#and this reply is really long because my thoughts come with additional thoughts that maybe do not make sense at all but well 🤭

[fluentmoviequoter]

Hidden Talents

Requested Here!

Pairing: Jim Street x fem!reader

Summary: At a charity event, your boyfriend Jim and his SWAT team learn about your hidden musical talent.

Warnings: just fluff! Duke loses his frisbee though :(

Word Count: 2.0k+ words

“There she is!” Hondo yells when you walk into SWAT HQ. “I thought you forgot about your favorite cop.”

“No, I talked to Luca this morning,” you answer as he pulls you into a hug.

“I’m so glad I introduced you,” Street deadpans. “Any chance I could say hi to my girlfriend?”

“Get in line,” Luca replies as he walks to your side.

“I tried to warn you,” Deacon tells Street. “The people closest to you get absorbed into this family and you’re powerless to fight it.”

“That’s why you’re okay with Hondo flirting with Annie all the time?”

“I’m just waiting for her to come to her senses,” Hondo interjects.

“I thought you were assisting the Marshals today?” you interrupt, drawing their attention back to the fact that you’re stopping by the station in the middle of the day.

“It went better than we anticipated, so we got back early,” Street answers, finally pulling you against his side. “Don’t sound so disappointed that you get to see us.”

“I’m not,” you promise, smiling as you loop your arm around his waist. “Annie and I were talking about the charity event the department’s hosting, and I came by to talk to the community outreach officer about it.”

“Are you coming with us?” Deacon inquires.

“Yes,” Street answers for you. “Someone has to help Annie keep us focused.”

You laugh with Street’s team, your second family, and nod. “If that’s okay.”

“You’re not allowed not to come,” Hondo tells you. “We should plan to do something after, too, make it a family night.”

“Hear that, Luca? Family night means Duke gets to come,” Street points out.

“He’s not going to forgive you for losing his favorite frisbee just because you take him out on the town for a night. He’s got standards, unlike your past conquests,” Luca argues.

“I’m standing right here,” you murmur, though you know Luca is kidding.

“That’s why I said past!” he defends, picking up your hand to hold it between his. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to Streeter.”

“The frisbee isn’t lost,” Street grumbles beside you.

“Guys!” Deacon interrupts with a smile.

“I really do need to go get that information,” you say. “I’ll see you all later.”

“Some of us sooner than others?” Hondo inquires.

“Absolutely,” you agree playfully. “Maybe you can help me get Duke’s frisbee.”

“Name the time.”

“Look what you started, Luca,” Street says, gesturing wildly between you and Hondo.

You raise your free hand to Street’s jaw to turn his gaze back to you and ask, “Take me to the office I need to be in because I still don’t know my way around here?”

Street nods and adjusts his hand placement to slide his fingers between yours as he leads you into the hallway and waves over his shoulder. Annie asked you to get some information about the charity event, that was true, but you’re also here to sign up to be in it.

The pediatric hospital is a charity you’ve been supportive of for a long time, and your experience playing the violin in smaller venues and for theatre productions in the past has prepared you to offer your talents in addition to your donation. You haven’t told Street about your musical talent or your passion for it, and now you’re unsure how to bring it up, so you decide to let it be a surprise. After Street leaves you to talk to the director, he’s happy to add you to the list of local talent acts performing, and he thanks you for giving your time to the cause.

Now, you must practice and prepare for your boyfriend and his entire SWAT team to find out what you do in your free time.

You’re not surprised to interrupt a conversation when you enter Street and Luca’s house before the event. Every member of 20 David squad is present and dressed in suits, and you stop just inside the door for a moment to admire Street.

“No way, the hip-hop duo that lives down the street from Rocker is going to be the best,” Hondo exclaims.

“Nah, man, that’s too interpretive,” Luca argues. “The lady from the DA’s office that always kills it at karaoke night is going to steal the show.”

“Isn’t the point of the show to raise money for the hospital, not sheer entertainment value?” Deacon asks.

“Deac,” Hondo sighs. “If we don’t enjoy it, how are we supposed to cough up cash?”

“As an excuse to leave early,” you answer softly.

The men before you turn quickly, unaware that you entered the house while they debated about which performer would be the best.

“Whoa,” Street says, looking at your outfit. “You look beautiful.”

“Who do you think will be the best?” Hondo asks, smiling as Deacon shakes his head.

“If they don’t put the audience to sleep, I’d consider it a win,” you reply.

“That’s fair,” Tan murmurs. “Doing this at night at the end of the week may not have been the best idea. Couple of my night shift buddies got roped into coming and they have to go straight to the station for patrol after.”

Deacon raises his hands in question and asks you, “Where did we lose them with the charity aspect?”

You shrug as Hondo answers, “Ten working hours ago, Deac.”

“I’m honestly surprised you didn’t rope Deacon into singing,” you point out.

Hondo sighs dramatically and looks at Luca and Tan, who are equally disappointed.

“Why didn’t we think of that?” Hondo asks.

“We need to go,” Deacon says, looking at his watch. “And don’t even try, it wouldn’t have worked anyway.”

“No, you have to get Annie to ask him,” you agree as you take Street’s offered hand.

“You’re not invited to dinner next week,” Deacon tells you. “Why would you give him that idea?”

“Way ahead of you,” Hondo says, typing on his phone as he walks between you and Deacon to get to his car. “Texting her now.”

“Sorry,” you whisper.

“No, you’re not.”

Street opens the passenger door for you, and when he gets into the car beside you, he looks at you in love and admiration. “You’re beautiful,” he says again.

“Thank you. You look amazing. Thanks for letting me come with.”

Street shakes his head as he starts the engine and asks, “How else would I have survived?”

During the intermission, you look at the SWAT officers beside you, who look either bored or exhausted. Street has your arm pulled close to him as he traces your fingers, Deacon and Annie walked out when the curtain fell to call the sitter and check on the kids, and Luca and Hondo are tired enough that they aren’t discussing the rap battle comprised of compliments that they just witnessed.

You’re performing second after the intermission, so you’ll have to leave them soon. Part of you wants to tell them that you’re performing to know that they’ll be awake to support you, but then you second guess whether or not you want them to pay attention to your performance. Not because you’re not confident or nervous, but because you know their reaction will be big. And probably loud.

“Is there anything in that program to look forward to?” Hondo asks.

You shrug and answer, “There’s a reenactment of the final fight scene from Die Hard.”

“Really?” he asks, sitting up a little straighter.

“No. If you want that, you’ll have to do it next year.”

“I’m offering to work security next year.”

“There’s an interpretive dance next, then violin, singing, a comedy skit, and a local band is playing to conclude,” you read from the program.

“Sounds better than the first half,” Luca replies. “Violin?”

“She listens to violin music,” Street says, keeping his eyes on your hand as he moves his head toward you. “It’s actually pretty good. Depends on the player, I guess.”

“Speaking of how much I like violin music,” you begin, “if you’ll excuse me…”

Street nods and gently releases your hand. As you stand from your seat and walk toward the back of the theatre, Hondo calls after you to bring back popcorn, and you smile to yourself.

You take a deep breath before you walk onto the stage, smiling at the crowd before you as you raise your violin to its position. With the bow readied across the strings, your eyes find your empty seat and the men beside it. Street is leaning forward, smiling but clearly full of questions, while Hondo is adjusting to sit up straighter as his brows furrow, and Luca sends you a thumbs up.

As you begin playing I Saw Three Ships, you lose yourself in the music. You’ve never felt as though you have to perform and feel indifferent to the attention on you. You love the music enough that it’s all that matters. As well as how you feel when you put everything you are into the music you make. Throughout the song, you catch Street’s eye a few times, but never long enough to tell what he’s thinking or doing. Unknown to you, he’s falling more in love with you with every note you play. Hondo, Deacon, Annie, Luca, and Tan are similarly entranced and surprised by your talent and improved by how you make such passion and beautiful music look effortless.

You pull your bow across the strings for the last note, and as the music fades, applause erupts in the theatre. Your second family rises from their seats as they clap, whistle, and talk excitedly to one another. You smile and nod to thank the people from the hospital sitting closest to the stage, then walk behind the curtain again. With your violin safely returned to its case and ready for you to pick up at the end of the night, you return to the theatre lobby but don’t get a chance to return to your seat.

“You play the violin?” Street asks when you come into view. “Why didn’t you tell me? You’re amazing!”

“That’s an understatement,” Hondo argues. “You were the best one in there tonight!”

“That was wonderful,” Annie applauds as she hugs you. “Even better than last month.”

“Last month?” Street, Hondo, and Deacon ask together.

“I performed it for a play at a community theatre last month,” you answer. “It’s not my first time playing for an audience.”

“Then why haven’t you invited us to be in the audience?” Street demands.

“I didn’t know how to bring it up, I guess.”

“Listen, there’s a car show coming up next month,” Luca begins. “They love local bands-“

“No, no!” Street interrupts, pointing at Luca. “I get a private concert before any of you can consider getting her a stage.”

“Why?” you inquire with a smile.

Street spins to point at you as he accuses, “Because you kept this a secret from me. Not just some weird hobby or something youlike, you kept a talent from me, and now I deserve to see just how good it is up close.”

“Remind me not to hide any talents from him,” Deacon mumbles.

“Luca, I appreciate the offer, and I’ll let you know if I’m interested,” you say. “But apparently I have another tour to finish first.”

“So…” Hondo begins. “If you’re done, does that mean we could all leave without question?”

“That’s your priority?” Deacon asks.

“It’s family night after this and…” Hondo pauses briefly to point at you before he finishes, “This one decided to keep secrets, so, there’s a lot to discuss.”

“Like what?”

“How long she’s been playing, her favorite song, why someone that talented is with Street-“

“I don’t think we need to discuss the last one,” Street interjects.

You laugh and wave to get their attention again. “Yes, we can leave, if you’re all ready to go. But somebody needs to go get Victor.”

“I’ll get him,” Annie offers.

As she walks away, you look to Deacon and whisper, “Would now be a bad time to bring up that Duke's frisbee fell out of the tree or that I can river dance?”

“What?!” the men around you exclaim.

“My girlfriend’s incredibly talented and didn’t tell me,” Street laments. “That’s great.”

“Isn’t the whole point of this stage to get to know each other?” you counter.

Street smiles and pulls you to his side. He whispers, “But I want to know it all now because I love you a little more with every new thing I learn.”

[catboyolli]

oh my god the US tour really was something else!! I had completely forgotten the whole roommate drama thing 😳 and the fact that Olli and Allu were the last ones awake drinking mountain dew and talking about technology!! 🥺 I bet they shared secret kisses and maybe sometimes even fell asleep cuddling on the sofa?? 🥺

maybe some night Aleksi falls asleep before Olli and Olli barely awake confesses his love to sleeping Aleksi but in reality Aleksi just pretended to be asleep because he didn’t want to go to his own bunk to sleep alone??

i have very fond memories of the US tour because (for once) everything happened around my timezone! 🥳i am not from the US but it was exciting to get some content while i was awake 👉👈

and yes yes yes! we all know olli is a big sleepyhead and a cuddly boy so they definitely cuddled to sleep in the sofa sometimes (and yes, maybe they shared some kisses, yknow you gotta kiss your homies goodnight.......)

i love the idea of a late night love confession so much because omg it makes perfect sense!!! olli is too shy to confess his feelings, so he waits until late and spills everything out when he thinks aleksi is asleep, but now aleksi has to decide what to do with that information because maybe olli didn't mean it? or it was just a joke? 🥺💗💕💖💘

fun fact that does not leave my head: their US tour bus was smaller than their EU one and it didn't have a separate "lounge room" (sadly I only remember that the one from the electric callboy tour did, don't know about the one from their headline tour) so I am 99.9% sure that they did spent many many nights awake until late, having discussions about technology like the big nerds they are....... quite close to the bunk beds, actually

so picture this stupid scenario with me under the read more because i don't wanna be annoying with an extra long post 😊

olli and aleksi, alone and awake at 2 AM discussing tech stuff like whether or not a custom built desktop pc is better than a macbook, their bandmates and/or tour managers sleeping trying to sleep less than 2 meters away from them and wondering:

what the actual fuck are they talking about

why the fuck are they awake so late? (options: they are still high on adrenaline from the shows, aleksi is a night owl, oli spent the e n t i r e day napping in the couch, all of the above, none of the above)

will setting them up with each other make them finally shut the fuck up?

is the tech discussion some sort of courtship ritual that everyone else is not nerdy enough to understand, and will it stop once they are together?

so niko and joonas try adding a bit of jealousy and drama to make them finally ✨realize their feelings✨, but it kinda doesn't work because both aleksi and olli are way too deep in denial ("we're just friends", "we have mutual interests", "we stay up late just talking and working on songs and merch stuff", "our relationship is purely professional")

well, it works a little, because "what if he likes me too?" is now a recurrent though in those empty head of theirs, and the nights have been way more quiet since then. The weird silence that settles when they run out of things to talk about (because they are too busy overthinking about their interactions with each other and if what they said or did could be interpreted as someting else) is way worse than the tech talk, though

maybe the whole thing gets solved during that tour, they confess their feelings and spend the rest of the nights kissing and cuddling and whispering sweet nothings to each other (which on some nights makes the rest of the band want so desperately to get the tech talk back, but they are really happy for them); and when they both get sick it doesn't matter as long as they can take care of each other 💖

or maybe it doesn't get solved and they pine after each other for the rest of eternity, but somehow they still get sick at the same time and blame it on the mountain dew because of course it has to be that, what else could it be? (no one believes them)

the partial solution from mr CEO for their next tour? upgrade to a bus with a separate lounge room, but they better not start fucking in there or else he will straight up ban the room from being used (he just wants the quiet space for himself)

[doromoni]

Not Over the Papaya | OP81

⊹ ｡•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ

Ships : Oscar Piastri x Popstar! Reader , Ex!Lando Norris x Popstar! Reader

Genre : Fluff Smau

A/N : This is so fun to writeeee.Also would you guys like a series masterlist… or does my current Main masterlist do the job? Btw just another reminder ~ no hate to the people referenced in this fic.

Face claim : Jennie Kim

Warnings : Mild cursing , Grammar Errors

Summary : Y/N and Oscar cope with their own breakups by making the Heartbreak Club.

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

< Previous | Part 2 | Next >

landonorris 1h

*messages are disabled

Notification : You received a message from Oscar

Notification : You received a message from Max

*Message sent

*Incoming call from Oscar

Pick up or Decline

Pick up

“Hi Y/N”

“Hi Osc”

“So how have you been?”

“Really Oscar? how have I been… could you be more awkward?”

“Yes really, now answer the question gremlin”

“Ok fine. I’ve been feeling shitty lately, because your teammate decide to cheat on me. How about you Oscar how have you been?”

“I’ve been feeling like shit too. Because my high school girlfriend decided to cheat on me then proceed to dump me over text”

“Wait… what?? She broke up with YOU? and she did it over text too? I did not know that”

“Yup, honestly couldn’t get more sad than that I guess”

“Well if it helps, Lando did the same to me… so yeah.”

“Wow. What amazing exes we have huh?”

“I know right? were just so lucky on that department. So what are you doing to cope?”

“You know, I have racing and training to keep my mind off it. Logan’s trying to be there for me as much as he can. How bout you?”

“Hmmm~ thats great to hear. Me? I uh guess writing songs really helps”

“You know, talking to you really helps too.”

“Really?? Well i like talking to you too Osc”

“Yeah, you’ve been a surprising addition to my schedule. Never imagined being this friendly with my teammates’s girlfriend”

“EX-girlfriend. And yeah same … and I’m grateful that I got to talk to you. SEE I told you Heartbreak Club will help us!”

“Alright, Nerd. I admit it”

“Hmm. I just realized something.”

“What?”

“I’ve never heard you talk as much before. Oh my! did I just influence you to becoming a yapper??”

“Ok dork shut up”

“HHAHAHAHAAH”

“Where are you now? Your in England right?”

“Yes. I’m at my condo… why?”

“how about a coffee run?”

“Since when did you drink coffee?? and now??”

“Since you forced me drink the latte at the MTC and yes now. Are you in or not?”

“YES! i’m down”

“Alright. Dress up and I’ll pick you up.”

“Mkay! drive safe. Byeee”

“I will. Bye Y/N”

*Call ended

Y/N. 45m

*comments are disabled

oscarpiastri 30m

story replies

Y/N. Wow since when did you start taking aesthetic photos 🤭

oscarpiastri I get tons of practice because a certain someone makes me take soo much pictures.

landonorris I thought you broke up with your girlfriend

oscarpiastri I did.

landonorris oh? who’s she thenn

oscarpiastri someone special to me.

lilyz who’s the girl?

oscarpiastri it doesn’t concern you.

Y/N.

liked by y/bf , oscarpiastri, sabrinacarpenter, charles_leclerc, and others

Y/N. You embarrassed me motherf—

sabrinacarpenter YES. Slay Mama~ I see you 🤭.

Y/N. did I do justice with your lyrics Luv?

sabrinacarpenter I knew smth hot was coming when you asked to use my lyrics!

Y/N. 🤭🤭🤭

user1 That body bang! y/n really said not yours anymore.

user2 she’s hot, talented and successful. Lando fumbled BAD.

user3 Not Y/N casually letting us know she’s booked Calvin Klein. 🥵

user4 Ok but who’s that on the 2nd and 5th slide thooo.

user5 if its a friend or smth more who caresss if Lando could jump into a relationship that fast, Y/n could as well.

user6 Oscar in the likes, I see you.

user7 I lowkey ship 🫣

user8 maybe its oscar in the photos too!

user6 Y/N and Oscar have been interacting lots lately

user9 Oscar’s with lily tho.

user10 I haven’t seen them together for so long. Smth seems off tbh.

user11 Oscar and lily are both private people so of couse we don’t get to see them.

Y/N. why are y’all gossiping in my comments 🧐

user6 WTF hello @Y/N??

oscarpiastri

liked by Y/N. , mclaren, logansargeant, charles_leclerc and others

oscarpiastri Change of plans. I’m into coffee now ☕️

logansargeant in my years of knowing you , you never drank coffee

oscarpiastri well taste changes mate, what can I say? liked by Y/N.

charles_leclerc now you’re really my son!

user1 WHO TAUGHT OSCAR HOW TO POST CUNTY PICS?

user2 show yourself! we need to thank you 😭

user3 I choked on air when I saw it was posted on Oscar’s personal ig! i thought it was a fan page or smth.

user4 3rd slide had me on a chokehold!!

user5 Oscar’s hotness aside. Why does the caption sound so cryptic.

user6 Right?? is it really about coffee tho… ur very suspect Oscar Jack Piastri.

user7 specially when rumors of Oscar and Lily breaking up???

user8 What do you mean? where did you hear that??

user7 check twitter girl!

user9 Ok now Y/N’s in the likes and her liking Oscar’s reply!! What is happening yall 😭

user10 everything has been so messy. but ngl when Y/N used Oscar’s Tweet format? Iconic.

user11 Y/Nscar interactions are migrating to instagram.

*Incoming call from Oscar

Pick up or Decline

Pick up

“Hello, Osc. What’s up?”

“I need your help.”

“With what exactly?”

“Making an announcement”

Anyone interested to be added to the taglist? Drop a comment or DM me!

Series Taglist : @champagneproblems17 @itsjustfranzi @cheriwritesig @forza-charles @awritingtree @sltwins @gr1mes-cc @hwalllllllelujah @btsfluffsworld @tillyt04 @landotd open for tag request

Main taglist : @myescapefromthislife @peterholland04 @charlottef1 @fangirl125reader @mel164 @gnarlycore @chloelovesln4 @vickykazuya @merchelsea @ln4author @qzmef @nxk1309 @styl1shl1v : open for tag request

[nadvs]

why do i see cheerleader reader having daddy issues, so when she tells rafe she’s pregnant, she’s so emotional and scared about how he’s gonna react and if he’s gonna break up with her or something

it tracks 🥺 she always expects to be disappointed by men and it’s not just because every guy she’s dated before rafe has treated her badly…

based on this fic

when she moves in with rafe after she finishes her post-grad internship, she’s still on the pill. one day, she’s complaining about the side effects of it as she’s making herself lunch and her boyfriend says, “then stop taking it.”

she looks at him from across the kitchen.

“we’d have to use protection,” she says. “every time.”

“sure. but is it so bad if…?”

she’s shocked. they’ve been together for about two years now and they’ve never talked about kids past a mention of it’d be nice to be parents some day.

“if i get pregnant?” she says.

“yeah.”

“isn’t that fast?”

“not for me. is it fast for you?”

she shrugs. maybe it’s not so crazy. they have their future set. a child would be a nice addition. they haven’t talked about marriage, but she’s in no rush. they don’t have to be married to have a baby.

“if we both want it… i guess if it happens, it happens,” she mumbles. “but our lives would change really, really drastically.”

“i know,” rafe says comfortingly.

she continues to make herself food and he stares at her, imagining her with a baby bump and that bump turning into a little human who’s a mix of him and the person he loves most.

he knows she’d be a great mom. and he’s always wanted to be a dad. he’s always wanted to undo how his own father had raised him, making his only son have to struggle for his fleeting approval.

three months later, she misses her period. she doesn’t tell rafe. she picks up a pregnancy test. she doesn’t tell him that, either. when she sees the double lines on the test, she’s standing in the middle of their bathroom, her body trembling.

and she hates that she doesn’t feel excited. she’s scared. she thought she wanted this. she hoped for a positive. but this isn’t the feeling she thought she’d have.

she goes through the motions of ordering a custom newborn basketball jersey with cameron stitched on the back, having dreamed of telling rafe that they’re expecting that way.

a couple of days later, it comes in the mail. she has actually sort of liked keeping the secret while she waited because it meant she could pretend it wasn’t real yet.

she does what she thinks she should do. she puts the tiny shirt in a bag, sets up her phone to record, and calls him over to tell him something came for him. this is what a woman who’s excited to tell him would do, she tells herself.

at first, when rafe opens the bag, he doesn’t say anything. his jaw goes slack, he blinks a bunch of times, and then he pulls her in for a tight hug.

she’s already shaking, tears in her eyes, when she hears him sniffle. he pulls back. his hands are firm on her cheeks, gazing at her through glossy blue eyes.

“you’re happy?” she whispers.

“yeah,” he responds, saying it like it’s obvious. “we wanted this, right?”

rafe stills for a moment when he sees just how anguished she looks. she doesn’t seem happy at all.

“right?” he repeats.

“yeah,” she says, nodding and looking down. “i don’t know. it’s weird. maybe it’s the hormones already.”

“how long have you known? do you feel okay?”

“just a couple days,” she says. “i’m tired. a little nauseous. but he hasn’t made me throw up yet.”

“he?”

she meets her boyfriend’s eyes.

“i know it’s too soon to tell,” she says, “but i really hope it’s a boy. you’ll feel more connected to a boy.”

he can tell by the way she’s stuttering and crying that something’s wrong.

“baby,” he mumbles. “i’ll feel connected no matter what. it’s my kid.”

she shudders, nodding through her sobs.

“what’s up?” rafe says softly. “do you… are you regretting it?”

“no,” she replies, “but are you sure you want this?”

“yes. we talked about it,” he reminds her. “it’s not like this was an accident.”

“yeah,” she mumbles, looking down at her lap again.

rafe stares at her, slightly shaking his head in disbelief. she’s acting like this was unexpected. like she’s wishing they never started trying.

“what is it?” he says. “if you don’t want this, then just tell me.”

she curls up, slouching as she dips her head into her hands, the tears coming harder now.

“if it gets hard…” she whimpers, her voice muffled. “you can’t leave me to do it on my own. you can’t.”

he’s floored. they haven’t mentioned anything about the possibility of things not working out with them in ages. and back when they did, it was almost always rafe needing reassurance that she wasn’t planning on leaving him.

“i would never do that,” he says. “look at me.” his fingers wrap around her wrists, pulling her hands down from her face.

“where’s this coming from?” rafe mumbles. “did i do something?”

he thinks back to the past few days, trying to remember if he said something even in passing that would make her worry about him abandoning his girl and their baby.

the look in his eyes almost looks like betrayal. like he can’t believe she’s saying this.

she swallows hard, coming to terms with what’s been swimming in her head for days now. her father was absent. the only example she had of a dad was one who never really acted like he wanted a kid at all.

“i don’t know what it looks like,” she begins, “when a man actually wants to be a dad. maybe you’re excited now, but what if when it gets hard? when he’s crying or sick or keeping us awake?”

“we’ll deal with it,” he says. he pushes past his own ache to try to understand her.

his cups her hands in his, searching her face with concerned eyes. he remembers her opening up to him long ago about how she always wondered if her dad would have loved her more if she was a son instead of a daughter.

“when he or she is giving us hell, we’ll deal with it,” he says. “i love them already. there’s nothing that’ll change that.”

he puts a hand on her stomach, rubbing gently. she finally cracks a smile, softly laughing. his chest loses its tightness when he sees her look happy for the first time since he got home.

“i was reading that it’s the size of a pomegranate seed right now,” she says.

he smiles in awe, kissing her wet cheek.

“what’s next?” he asks. “what appointments do we make? what should you be eating?”

she laughs again. rafe has always been so intense, so focused on the next step.

“let me catch my breath first,” she teases. she looks over, just now remembering she filmed all this.

“my bad, baby,” he laughs. “breathe. this’ll be good, alright?”

“alright,” she says. and she believes it.

[bamboobooshark]

YOUR WADE WILSON’S HEADCANONS WERE SO GOOODDDDDD PLS DO MORE WADE STUFF OMG <33

WADE WILSON X READER

⋆༺𓆩⚔︎ DELICIOUS : 872 WRDS

<RATING: PG-13, DESCRIPTION OF A MAKEOUT, BITING>

A/N : More Wade due to popular request! Which I didn’t expect at all because I thought I wrote him out of character BUT THE CROWD SAYS OTHERWISE (and I’m hugging the crowd so hard, thank you all deeply for the compliments)!!!! No additional warnings than the rating!

You groan in anguish while sitting on your couch. Wade said he’d “be home in a jiffy” thirty minutes ago when you called him. Maybe you should call him again. Yeah, you’ll call him again.

The phone rings once before he picks up. He grunts while fumbling to get his phone positioned between his shoulder and cheek. “Hey, pumpkin! Did something happen? Is everything okay? What’s up,” he asks with the most excited tone, sounding absolutely thrilled just to hear your voice. You let out a huff while shaking your head. “No, nothing’s wrong. I just miss you so badly. Please come home, Wade,” you whine, pouting even if Wade can’t see it himself. He laughs at your whining as he slips his phone into his hand. “I’ll be there soon. I pinky promise, okay,” he says with a sincere tone. You exhale deeply and hum in agreement. “Okay, but you better not be lying again. If you are, you’re sleeping on the couch,” you threaten. Wade audibly gasps. “The couch? Oh, you wouldn’t dare,” he challenges with a playful tone. “I so would,” you reply. “Good thing I’m not lying then,” he says before he hangs up on you. You’re about to grab the nearest pillow and scream into it before you hear Wade open the door.

You get up from the couch and run up to him happily. “Oh my god! I missed you, you idiot,” you chuckle as your arms wrap tightly around his waist. He pretends to start choking and gasping for air. “Holy shit, baby! If I could die it’d be from your sweet self crushing my bones so hard they puncture a lung,” he jokes. You ignore his words and hug him a little bit harder just for saying that. Once you pull back and look into his eyes, he points towards something with his gaze. You look where his eyes are guiding you, and he’s holding a tube of chapstick. Your grip around him loosens and you frown with nothing but love for him. “Oh come on. You didn’t have to go out for that long just to get me some new chapstick. I told you I could’ve gotten some myself,” you insist while looking at Wade. He does nothing but give you a goofy smile in response. “But I did, sugar. I really, really did,” he assures you before kissing your nose.

“Now, how about we — sorry, you try it? I meant you. I bought this for you,” he corrects with a straight face. You shake your head because you know exactly what he intends to do. You sigh softly and take the chapstick out of his hand, watching him eye you intently while you put it on. “Holy Mary, mother of Jesus, you are just stunning,” he mutters softly. “Wade! Stop that,” you exclaim before playfully hitting his arm. He rubs his bicep as if you made him experience the worst pain ever, frowning like an abandoned puppy from your actions. He mumbles a soft sorry while letting you finish applying the chapstick.

“Oh! That’s really nice. Where’d you get this,” you ask with wide eyes. Wade simply shrugs and smiles before grabbing you with one hand on your back and one under your thigh. “C’mere you,” he grunts. He butts his forehead against yours like a cling cat, humming happily. You are completely silent aside from the heavy breaths caused by Wade’s sudden actions. “What the hell was that for,” you ask through a nervous laugh. “I don’t need to explain for that was for. Now, let me try some of your chapstick. I bought it, so it’s fair game,” he teased before leaning forward to press his lips onto yours.

He sighs against your soft skin, brows knitting together tightly. Your hands go from his shoulders to the back of his head and you ever so slightly dig into his flesh. He pulls back, eyes wide and expectant. “I think I need to get another taste,” he mumbles almost mindlessly while attempting to keep up his usual attitude. “And I’d be glad to give it to you,” you manage to huff out before tightening your legs around his waist a bit more. Wade tries his best to be as close as possible to you while holding you in his arms. He fingers dig into your thighs and the hand on your back juts to press you closer against him. He bites at your bottom lip, panting heavily. You’re quick to let him in, your tongues pressing as he tastes you. You whine into his mouth and the bastard smiles against you. As much as you want to slap him for smiling right now, you don’t blame him for feeling so giddy.

He moves cautiously over to the couch, sitting you down on his lap carefully. He unlatches himself from your lips and looks up at you with his big, brown eyes that look so pitifully pretty in the moment. You’ve never seen him so star struck during your makeout sessions. “What’s up,” you ask with a slightly concerned look on your face. His lips form the smallest smile before he whispers to you, “Nothing. You’re just so damn delicious, baby.”

[urgonnaneedabiggership]

Could you make a fic where Miguel gets the female reader pregnant and they're happy but he's worried about her safety? Maybe have a villain find out? Cause some angst?

Risk Something (You're Losing Me)

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara (Spiderman: Across The Spiderverse) x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Language. Spoilers (Miguel's backstory is mentioned). Angst! Alert!, Unplanned pregnancy!Alert.

Word count: 4.3K

A/N: Since I had already established some background and emotional intimacy, I thought I could write this as a sort-of-sequel to my previous one-shot Host of a Ghost. I was so excited to write this, especially because I don't usually write angst but I like to push my boundaries and leave my confort zone. Hope that it pays off and, of course dear anon, that you like it <3

Part III

You’d never really believed in long-distance relationships. After being witness to so many unsuccessful ones, you’d cataloged the entire concept into a box labeled “certain failure” and tucked it away in the back of your head. And yet, with an inconsistency worthy of your friend Hobie, you’d gone and gotten yourself involved in no less than an interdimensional relationship.

How? Well, that was a good question.

All it took was five simple steps:

Step one: Live a regular life. Go to school, graduate, and try to go for a Ph.D. that gets you working near genetically modified insects for just the right amount of time for you to become careless enough to let one crawl onto your backpack, take it to your apartment, and let it sting you. Throw in some negligence, forfeit going to the hospital, and go on about your afternoon. Warning, some side effects like loss of consciousness or intense headaches can be expected.

Step two: Congratulations! You’ve now become a super-powered person with abilities that range from climbing walls and performing gravity-challenging parkour to creating a sticky web-like element that helped you swing from one building to another. Toy around with your new talents, and grow comfortable with them before realizing that you can actually use them to be the much-needed help your city needs.

Step three: Turns out you’re not the only one with this kind of ability out there. There’s a whole Spider-Society full of similarly enhanced people who try and do their best to keep their own dimensions safe, and you’ve not only caught their eye but have actually been invited to join them. Let your new guide Jess Drews show you around, and explain all the benefits that come from joining a team such as theirs. If you decline, you can go back home and that’ll be all.

If you’re interested, it’ll be necessary to convince the leader but they could use some extra help so it shouldn’t be particularly hard. It sounds like an amazing chance. Information you wouldn’t have access to otherwise, mind-blowing facilities where you can polish your newly acquired abilities, possible new friends that actually know what you’re going through…Say you’ll think about it. Right as you’re about to leave, the most fucking gorgeous man you’ve ever seen in your entire life walks past without paying either of you any mind, busy while speaking to another Spider-Person. You ask who that is, turns out he’s the aforementioned leader, “will I ever have to work with him?”, you ask. “Probably, eventually” Replies Jess. Ask when you can start.

Step four: Do your best to earn your place in this elite group. Successfully improve your fighting skills, read everything available on interdimensional traveling and the multiverse. Understand it almost instantly because that’s how smart you are, kudos to you. Realize that for some reason, despite never actually interacting with you, Spider-Society leader Miguel O’Hara tends to stare. A lot. Is it because you’re progressing as fast as Jessica says or because she’s a complete liar and you’re actually doing it all wrong? No idea. All you know is that even during mundane scenarios like laughing in the hall with all the newest additions to the team or in line at the cafeteria, you feel a certain tingle in the back of your head that makes you turn around. Of course, the moment your eyes meet, he turns around and leaves. An odd one, yes. But you’ve also heard things. Rumors, here and there about his life before creating the Society. Whispers about a lost family and some video archives being the only evidence that they even existed in the first place. And, of course, the fault he had in the destruction of their dimension. You sympathize with him, despite his apathetic attitude towards you. You’ve seen him interact with those he’s closer to, and you know there’s more to him than he lets on. You’d be elated if he ever let you take just one look at the smidge of his old self that sometimes peeked out from behind the iron curtain. Well, not really. One look wouldn’t be enough. If anything, it would only cement your feelings for the man.

Step five: Curiosity killed the cat. We all know that. You know that. And yet, you decided to go snooping around Miguel O’Hara’s computer and personal files until you accidentally switch his computer on for long enough to let the videos he’s always watching start playing. He…his daughter…an entire lost life gone before his eyes. Then, before you could do the right thing and turn the computer off, an eerily familiar voice called at him from behind the camera. So, of course, you had to keep watching. Long story short? All those oddly constant stares, that coldness towards you, unwillingness to look you in the eye, was because of two reasons: first, you were a nearly identical interdimensional variant of the wife he’d lost in the dimension he unwittingly erased from existence. Two, as he’d confessed after realizing you’d found out about the truth, Miguel had come to terms with the fact that he was in love with you, not as a replacement for somebody from his past but as a new presence in his life that he’d been struggling to watch from afar, unwilling to let all his repressed feelings spill out like water from a broken dam. Until that night, of course.

Now, eight months later, you’d come to realize there was actually a sixth step you’d never actually considered until now that you were in this…situationship.

Step six: Uncomfortably avoid every and all circumstances in which interdimensional disparities and canon consistency regarding your relationship could come up. Don’t say anything like “Well, it’s been nice but I’ve got to go back to my own dimension” because that would remind him that his dimension was not yours too. That you were after all still a stranger in a strange land. Which of course also meant never inviting him to stay in your dimension.

Deep inside, you knew that all those details would eventually cause problems, especially regarding the inner conflict Miguel was always dealing with knowing what he was doing…what you were both doing, went against his strongest principle. But by God he was happy. Happier than he’d thought he could ever feel again. More than he deserved. So he just ignored those intrusive thoughts and focused on whatever task was at hand. And you were too. Even after just eight months, life without him already seemed unimaginable. He was your first thought in the morning and your last before you went to sleep, and more than once his presence beside you had been not just a figment of your imagination, but a part of your reality as you felt his strong arms wrap around your waist and pull you closer whenever you strayed too far from him in bed as he groggily whispered, “¿Y a dónde crees que vas, preciosa?”, Or when he buried his nose in the crook of your neck, lining it up with soft kisses that sometimes ended up in both of you being late for your assigned tasks. With so much on the line, you were more than happy to avoid those spiky subjects. It seemed like such a small price to pay with all you were getting in return.  

You weren’t sure of where all this was going, but none of that mattered. Right now, you were together. Inside the Spider-Society you were a great team and each one was a valuable asset. Outside, every second spent in your arms was enough to make him forget Spider-Man. To you, he was Miguel and nothing more. And that was all you needed.

Life was good. You were happy with the way things were. Until, as it usually happens, a necessary disruption came quite literally crashing into your life in the shape of a fifteen-year-old that carelessly swung around a corner and crashed into you after you’d been chasing him like the rest of the Spider-People after receiving Miguel’s message.

“Miles?” You asked, recalling his name, which you’d actually been hearing for quite some time since the circumstances of his existence started being a problem for your boyfriend. The boy didn’t answer. He just looked at you, his eyes filled with confusion and fear until you hesitantly took a step aside to leave the escape route open for him. If anything he looked even more baffled, but when the noise of his pursuers reached your ears he rushed down the hall and you lost him after he took a sharp turn.

Before you could be spotted, you ran in the opposite direction and hid around a corner as you tried to call Miguel on your watch. Of course, it was in vain. Well, Plan B. Fortunately, this time you did get a reply.

“(Y/N)?”

“Peter! Yes, it’s me! Where are you?”

“Where do you think? I’m going after him like everybody else. I need to get to him before…sweetie, please just get back in there, Daddy’s on the phone right now…I need to get to him before- “

“He’s already left the headquarters,” You informed him.

“Wait, you saw him?”

“About a minute ago. He was on his way to the North exit.”

“(Y/N), are you sure you should be a part of this chase right now?”

“Why not? Jessica is there, isn’t she?” You replied, smiling to yourself. Good old Peter B., looking out for you like some sort of self-appointed brother figure.

“Well yeah, but she’s not running, kid. Although I don’t think she should be on one of those death machines either, I don’t what she’s…”

While he kept on rambling for a bit, you looked around and wondered if you’d ever seen the building this empty.

Empty.

Your eyes slowly ran along the pearly white walls until they landed on the hallway that led to the room where the Go Home Machine was kept. Practically unchecked, if Spider-Byte had joined the pursuit.

“P.B., I’ll talk to you later,” You absent-mindedly replied, hanging up on him without waiting for an answer as you dashed down the hallway.

You kept thinking about that poor kid’s eyes. After having all that information unloaded onto him, instead being given enough time to somewhat process everything he now had to escape from the very people he was supposed to feel safe amongst. When he sat on the floor right in front of you right after the crash, he was sure you would immediately hand him over. Maybe a few months ago you would’ve done it without hesitation but now…things had changed.

There it was. The Go-Home Machine. You thought you saw a purple blast inside that let you know Byte was still there. However, if your theory was correct, Miles would have to go through that hall and therefore, you. A few minutes later, a sudden voice booming from your watch startled you.

“(Y/N)!”

“Miguel? Where are you? I’ve been trying to…”

“(Y/N), listen to me! Miles lured everybody out on purpose, he’s trying to get to the machine. I can see your location back at the headquarters and he should be coming your way in less than a minute!”

“Alright. I’ll handle it.” You replied, ending the call before he could ask you to elaborate on that.

Sure enough, light footsteps came in your direction shortly after. Right as Miles entered your field of view, an alert issued by your watch made your stomach drop and a dreadful feeling fill your chest. However, you’d made up your mind. There was no going back now.

Mile spotted you at the end of the hall and stopped in his tracks. His eyes were determined, not as afraid as a few moments earlier. If he was there that meant he’d somehow gotten past Miguel. You fought back a smile when you wondered how pissed he’d be about it. Having his ass kicked by a teenager was something that, maybe under different circumstances, you could tease him about.

“He’s a delight, isn’t he?” You finally spoke, trying to somewhat lighten the mood while taking a step toward the kid. However, he got in a defensive stance, furrowing his eyebrows in distrust.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to talk.” You assured, showing him both your hands, “Miles, listen very carefully. This is exactly what Miguel was talking about a while ago. At this very moment. Right now, I’m supposed to stop you from getting to that machine and handing you over,”

Of course, he took another step back.

“Miles I’m not going to do that,” You assured him.

“Why not?” He immediately asked, constantly looking behind him, wondering if this was just you trying to stall him like, unbeknownst to you, he thought Peter had tried to do a while ago.

“Because I’m sure there’s a better way to go about all this. I love him so much, I do, but he’s so afraid that I don’t think he’s willing to see other possibilities and by the time he does, it might be too late for you. Now go before anybody else gets here.”

You didn’t have to tell him twice. Miles darted past you as soon as you finished talking, taking a second to look back before reaching the dimly lit room where his ticket home was. His eyes scanned your face and darted down for one second before he looked up at you, a new worry in his eyes that had you wondering whether his spider-sense was strong enough to perceive something you’d just found out yourself.  

“Are you going to be okay?” Miles asked, his eyes looking down for a moment once again. Did he know? Did he mean “you” as in just you or as in…?

“Yes, don’t worry. Now get out of here.” You insisted. With one last hasty “thanks”, he ran into the room as your left in the opposite direction. You weren’t worried about Spider-Byte. She was a good kid, and she’d do the right thing.

The right thing. What did that even mean anymore?

You’d deal with the moral implications later. For now, as you found yourself on the other side of the headquarters, your mind was set on finding Miguel. Maybe you could try and talk some sense into him, make him reconsider whether this was…

“What the hell was that?”

By now you’d gotten used to Miguel’s habit of sneaking up on you. Usually, hearing his voice coming out of nowhere brought a smile to your face. This time, you closed your eyes and winced as you felt his presence behind you.

“Don’t even try lying. I know that voice you used in the call. The one for when you’re about to ignore whatever order I’m about to give you, so I checked the cameras.”

“Miguel, I…” You began to explain yourself just to be harshly cut off.

“(Y/N), what were you thinking? Do you realize what you just did? Do you have the slightest idea of the consequences…?”

“I do realize that you just asked a fifteen-year-old child to stand by and let his father get killed right before calling his existence a mistake, Miguel. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking of our safety, and that includes Miles’. You’re right, he’s a kid and that means he’s selfish and immature enough to endanger everything we’ve all been risking our lives to protect for years.”

“Miguel, listen to me,” You insisted, “You’re scared. I know. I am, too, but have you ever considered that maybe there’s another solution? Do we even know for sure that allowing the kid to go and try to save his father is going to cause any real damage?”

“What if it does? Are you just going to tell me “Sorry, Miguel, you were right” and that’s all? (Y/N), Dios mío, piensa. Gwen said the same thing but we couldn’t trust her with being objective because he’s her friend,”

“Wait, what do you mean couldn’t?” You asked. Miguel clenched his jaw and turned away, unable or unwilling to look at you.

“Miguel, please tell me you didn’t send her back. Not with how she left things back there,”

His absolute silence told you everything. Shaken, you took a step back.

“What is wrong with you?” You hissed the disappointed look in your eyes hurting like a sharp dagger to his chest.

“(Y/N), mi amor, I’m just trying to…”

“You’re such a hypocrite,” You angrily spat out, “You go around preaching about how important sticking to your stupid canon is and the delicate balance of the multiverse when you know damn well that what we’re doing goes against every single one of those things,”

“No, no, that’s very different,” Miguel disputed,

“How is it different?” You argued back, boldly moving closer to him wishing you were taller so you could face him, “I’m from another dimension, there is no way that we were supposed to meet from the beginning. You had your world, this world, and when you tried to live another life in a different one, an entire dimension was destroyed. I had my world, and for all I know maybe there was somebody there that I was supposed to meet but thankfully I ended up here first so I could meet you. But you know what? My universe is fine, yours is too and I swear I had never been happier in my entire life.”

“You’re right.” He muttered in deep thought.

“Yes, I am. And maybe…” You started to say, a relieved smile tugging at the edges of your mouth until he looked up and the expression in his eyes made your throat dry up.

“We’ve been messing with fire all this time. There is probably somebody you can be with without endangering your entire dimension. And this…this is the hand I was dealt and I should just accept it and live with it. You’re right. Maybe this was all a mistake from the beginning.”

“No. No, come on, you don’t mean that.” You shook your head in denial, lifting both your hands to cup his face in your hands, to bring him close like he had done the night you finally could let all the love you felt for him escape its confinement in your chest.

Miguel grabbed your hands before you could touch him and moved away from you before releasing them as he finally built up the courage to look you in the eye.

“Are you serious?” You asked, your voice quivering with anger as you felt tears begin to dwell in your eyes, “So that’s it? You’d rather sacrifice us than find a different way to solve this?”

“Well, what did you think was going to happen, (Y/N)? That this would go on forever and we’d keep pretending everything is fine and that you don’t have to wear a fucking machine on your wrist every time you come to see me because even the cells in your body know you were never supposed to be here?”  

“Oh, right, so you expect me to believe that you always knew this was going to be temporary? Then what was this? Something to take the edge off after a rough day until you decided it was time to stop fooling around and just be done with it?”

Deep inside, you knew what his response was going to be, but every inch of your heart silently pleaded for you to be wrong. To pull you into his arms and apologize for trying to send you away and promise that you’d get through this because you loved each other and that was all that mattered.

“I don’t know why you thought it was anything else,”

For a minute, you wondered if this was all actually happening. Maybe this was all a nightmare fueled by all the training simulations you’d gone over lately, and you’d wake up crying just to find Miguel asleep next to you, his wide back slowly rising and sinking with every calm breath he took. Your crying would wake him up and he’d furrow his eyebrows and ask what had happened.

“I had a nightmare, that’s all,” You’d say, wiping your tears off and trying to downplay it. But he knew better. He always knew better. He would pull you close and bury your head in his chest, placing a kiss on top of your head while warning you that he was the only one allowed to have nightmares because otherwise he’d have to start comforting you too and neither would get a full night of rest. And you would laugh softly as you drifted off, lulled by the warmth of his chest and his smell of sage lotion and cheap fabric softener.

But no. You were very much awake, and instead of comforting you with promises and reassurances, he was walking away from you after delivering the final blow to your heart.

Since he had his back turned to you, you felt free to let the repressed tears freely fall down your face as you helplessly watch him go until he disappeared around a corner. All of a sudden, you felt as if the walls of the headquarters had begun to close around you to asphyxiate you, and the sound of the returning Spider-People made you realize you didn’t want to be there for one more second.

Thanks to your watch, you were back “home” in a few seconds.

“Home”. Your empty apartment where you’d lived alone for years. Where he’d never set foot, and at least in that way it was free of his memory. Or so you thought until you looked over your shoulder at the ajar bathroom door. Inside, atop the porcelain sink, still rested the positive pregnancy test you’d left there before having to rush over to the headquarters to help with the latest anomaly.

That memory felt so distant now. As if it had happened years ago, in a different life. You suppose in a way, it did belong to another life. A life that was over now.

Numbly, you made your way toward the ragged sofa, collapsing on top of it as soon as you were close enough. It was only then that the full weight of the last day and a half sank in and, as you gently wrapped your arms around your stomach, you let the tears fall until your throat burned, the dusty cushions muffling your broken sobs.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard correctly, you did what?”

The seriousness of the situation was enough for Peter to fasten a small strap in Mayday’s baby carrier to make sure she won’t go anywhere for a few minutes as he waited for his friend’s platform to reach ground level. He couldn’t be chasing his toddler around and ripping Miguel a new one at the same time.

“I did what I had to do. It’s for her own good,”

“Right, because you’re such an arrogant…” He paused to carefully place his hands over Mayday’s tiny ears, “…such an arrogant dick that you think you know what’s best for everyone, including a fully grown, intelligent, woman like (Y/N)”

“Shit, Parker, do you think it was easy for me?” Miguel uttered, pinching the bridge of his nose before resting his face against the palm of his hand, “What I said about this being the hand I was dealt…I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with that. Hell, I don’t even know how I’m going to keep myself from showing up at her dimension to try and get her back here the first chance I get.”

“And why would you have to keep yourself from doing that?” Peter asked patiently. It sounded like a better alternative to “Miguel, I love you man but I swear you’ve got the emotional availability of a tree stump. Beats me how (Y/N) was able to get you to admit your feelings without prying your chest open with a jigsaw to see your pounding heart for herself.”

“She was right. We were never supposed to meet in the first place. Not like this. It’s not…”

“Miguel, I swear if I hear the word ‘canon’ even once in this conversation I’m going to drive my head through a wall,”

“Just because you don’t take anything seriously doesn’t mean everybody’s the same,” Miguel hissed back.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Last time I didn’t take something seriously, I ended up just like you will unless you get your priorities sorted out. Alone, and regretting not focusing on what was important,”

“This is important,” Miguel stubbornly argued.

“More important than what you had? Look at yourself. Just forty-eight hours ago you were as happy with (Y/N) as you’d been for the past eight months. And as happy as I’ve been with Mayday and my wife who, by the way, wouldn’t even be with me if it wasn’t for that kid you just called a mistake. And do you see my dimension going up in flames? Or yours? Or hers?”

Unable to find an argument against that, Miguel remained silent, his eyes fixed on an empty spot on the wall in front of him.

“Listen, I know you’re afraid. You don’t want her to get hurt, but if you love her as much as you claim to, then you’re taking the choice of a coward right now. And you can’t afford to be one, especially now.”

“Especially now?” Miguel inquired, turning to look at his friend who, much to his surprise, pressed his lips together as if he’d made a mistake and instead focused on getting Mayday’s hair out of her face.

“My point is; I know you well enough to know you worship that woman. And she thinks you’re pretty decent too. And I can tell you from experience that you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life if you let this come between you.”

Not knowing what else to add, Peter gently patted Miguel’s shoulder before leaving the room, hoping he’d given him enough to think about. Hopefully, enough to make him change his mind.

Meanwhile, Miguel hadn’t moved since Peter left the room, mulling his words over.

Two, particularly, had stuck with him for some reason.

Especially now.

[justsomerandomfanfic]

Siriusly Falling For You - Sirius Black X Female Reader

Title: Siriusly Falling For You

Sirius Black X Female Reader

Additional Characters: James, Lily, Remus, Peter, Prof. McGonagall (Mentioned), and Prof. Sprout (Mentioned)

WC: 2,863

Warnings: Friends to lovers, teasing, flirting, banter, nicknames, falling from a tree, no injuries happen but are mentioned briefly, italics, empty threats, pranks mentioned, James is a little goblin, confessions, a pun, mini angst, and fluff

"You want me to do what?" Sirius asked, watching as you bounced slightly in place, rocking on the balls of your feet.

"I want you to climb a tree with me." You said it matter of factly, not fazed at all by your best friend's reaction. "Come on, it'll be fun!" You grabbed his hand and pulled him towards you.

"I don't know..." Sirius muttered, glancing at the tree behind you, near the Black Lake, "I've never climbed a tree before."

With a mischievous glint in your eyes, you leaned in closer, your breath warm against Sirius's skin. "Come on, Sirius, it's easy, I'll help." You murmured, your voice a playful whisper that sent shivers down his spine. "Just one little climb up the tree with me. Who knows what we might discover up there?" Your free hand came up to fiddle with the collar of his gray sweater, a teasing smile tugging at your lips. 

Sirius tried to calm his heart, his pursed lips forming a mimicking smirk, his eyes narrowingly with the same playfulness. "Are you daring me, love?" He asked quietly, though you could hear the amused lilt of his words.

The air around you felt electric, your fingers itching to brush against his arm or caress his cheek. His scent enveloped you, intoxicating, sending goosebumps dancing across your flesh. You were suddenly very aware of your surroundings and how close you were to each other. You swallowed hard, looking up at him. "Maybe I am," You replied in an equally quiet voice before your mischievous expression suddenly changed into a large grin. "Race ya, Padfoot!" And off you went. And Sirius took off after you, the wind whipping through his long, black hair.

Your relationship with Sirius was a little bit complicated. The bond between you and Sirius was a unique blend of friendship and unspoken affection. You were best friends, partners in most shared classes, and always there for each other. The teasing and playful banter were second nature to both of you, a way to mask the deeper feelings that lay beneath the surface. 

Neither of you had dared to voice the truth - though Sirius loved to joke about how hopelessly in love you were with him - that your hearts beat a little faster in each other's presence, and your smiles held a hint of something more than friendship. The two of you had a lot of secrets. Secrets you kept hidden because neither of you wanted to lose what you already had. 

Sirius stopped a foot or so away from the base of the tree, watching as you reached up and grabbed a low-hanging branch of the tree. Pressing your foot against the trunk, you pushed yourself up, using your arms to push yourself further until you were perched securely on a higher, sturdier branch.

With a satisfied smile, you looked down at him. "See? Easy." You spoke, your legs dangling.

"Impressive." He simply stated as you reached your hand out, only for him to wave your hand off in dismissal. "No, no, my love, I can do this myself." You only rolled your eyes as Sirius followed your actions and pulled himself up the tree too. With a few pulls and a small grunt, Sirius then found himself with his chest leaning against the branch you were on; unable to really push himself any further. Looking over at you, you only smiled, hands in your lap, legs dangling; swinging back and forth. "A little help would be nice."

"Oh," You pressed a hand to your chest, blinking owlishly, "I thought you were a big boy and could do it yourself." You teased, giggling slightly. "It seems I must have been mistaken." You gave him your hand.

"Oh, har har." It was Sirius's turn to roll his eyes, taking your hand as you helped him up onto the branch properly. Bracing himself on the thick trunk of the tree, Sirius huffed out a breath, glancing down at the ground below him; he must have been around ten feet in the air. Looking over at you, he took note that you were already looking at him, an eyebrow raised. Clearing his throat, he gave you his usual grin. "But you were mistaken, my dear" He spoke, mimicking you and swinging his legs in the air a bit, "I'm not a big boy, I'm a big man." Sirius emphasized the last part and grinned wider. 

"Right, right," You nodded slowly, a small smile playing on your lips. 

After a quick moment of silence, Sirius spoke, or he tried to speak again, but was interrupted, "So, why did you force me to climb this-"

"Hey! Padfoot! Y/N!" You heard a voice call out to the both of you. Looking behind you slightly, you watched as James, Lily, Remus, and Peter walked from over near the greenhouses. "What are you doing up there, mate?" James asked, walking up to the two of you.

Gently slapping your hands on the thighs of your legs, you leaned forward slightly; freaking Sirius out as he reached out for you as if you were going to fall forward, his hand holding your upper arm. "Great question, James! We were just wondering that ourselves." You answered sarcastically as Lily snickered lightly from beside James.

"Oi!" James exclaimed, pointing a finger at you with a small glare, "Watch that attitude, I know where you sleep. I will dungbomb you."

"Ha! I’d like to see you try!" You scoffed, throwing your head back as you laughed a bit, "And good luck getting up those stairs. You know no boys are allowed or able to get up there." You continued to taunt, your gaze flickering between the three boys standing next to each other before looking over at Lily. "How are you today, Lily, dear?" You asked, your sarcastic tone replaced with genuine curiosity.

"Well, thank you for asking." She responded politely and glanced at James who was now pouting. "And you?"

"What can I say? I'm great." You shrugged and grinned. "What brings you all here?" 

Peter, the usual quietest of the bunch, aside from Remus, then spoke, "We were looking for Padfoot. James had an idea for a prank for McGonagall."

You furrowed your eyebrows, "McGonagall? She'll know you're up to something before you even have a chance to pull it off."

"That's what I said." Remus spoke up from beside Peter.

“Smart boy, as always,” You commented, before looking back down at James, “You should really listen to Remus more often.”

Sirius shuffled slightly in his spot on the branch beside you, thinking. Usually, Sirius would always jump at the chance to prank his professors, but as he turned his gaze towards you, now up in conversation with his friends, he didn't want to leave.

"Sirius!" James called out, snapping him out of it, "Why are you staring at Y/N, mate? She got something on her face or something?"

Sirius quickly turned to look down at James, glaring slightly as you looked at Sirius, rubbing your hand on your cheek. "Do I have something on my face?" You asked, in real concern.

James only smiled knowingly, shaking his head; knowing that he caught Sirius staring at you. Like he usually was in your company, or when you weren't. It was a bit of a problem, especially for Sirius. But, he really couldn't help it. If he was ever in the vicinity of you, Sirius would spend time just watching, admiring how beautiful you looked. How perfect you were. You were just so adorable.

"I swear to Godric, Pads, if you stare at her any longer... I'm going to hex you." James threatened, giving Sirius his famous 'stare down' look. Only then did Sirius realize that he had started staring at you... Again. Sirius cleared his throat, pulling his attention away from you, but you just covered your mouth with a hand, your eyes squinted slightly as you giggled; all muffled. James began to laugh as well before hopping from foot to foot, in a weird little jig, "Sirius and Y/N sitting in a tree,"

"James..." Sirius sighed deeply, feeling a bit embarrassed, but James continued.

You huffed beside him, “You’re acting childish, James, really.”

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Oh, stop teasing him, James!" Lily scolded and shook her head. "Honestly, James, you don't need to make fun of him like that."

"Yeah, James," You called down, swinging your legs, your hands sturdy on the branch, "Don't you have a prank to work on?"

Nodding his head, James spoke, "Yeah, I do. Padfoot." He addressed Sirius, who shook his head.

Though his pride was slightly wounded, Sirius knew James wasn't actually trying to hurt him. James knew of Sirius's affections towards you - everyone in all of Hogwarts basically knew - Sirius knew that James was just wanting to help him a bit; shove him in the right direction. Giving the four his signature grin, he waved them off with a hand, "You go off without me. I'm going to stay here for a bit longer." He spoke, surprising the four, but making James and Lily smile knowingly once more; along with surprising you.

You turned your head, looking at Sirius with a shocked little smile on your face, "You're staying?" You questioned quietly, surprised at how eager you sounded.

"Well, I guess we'll leave you two lovebirds to talk alone then." James winked at you before turning towards his friends, giving you a small wave, "We'll meet you guys later!" With that, they walked away.

“Bye, Y/N, dearest!” Lily waved to you, which you quickly waved back with a smile.

“Bye, Lily, darling! I miss you already!” You sighed, watching them go before looking back over at Sirius with an unsure expression on your face, you asked, "Why aren't you going with them?"

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, tilting his head slightly as you huffed slightly and shrugged a shoulder, beginning to fidget with a loose strand of your sweater.

"I mean... You could be pranking McGonagall right now. Even though she's the sweetest professor in the world. Aside from Professor Sprout." You answered, glancing up at him.

Sirius scoffed jokingly, "Minerva hates James and I, love."

"Probably because you call her by her first name most of the time." You countered, rolling your eyes playfully. “And you don’t do your homework, or many of the lessons, or pay attention…” You trailed off.

"Maybe." He hummed in agreement. Silence filled the area after that, the only sound being the sounds of soft bird calls.

Biting your lip, you began to play with your hands, picking at the skin around your nails subconsciously, "I mean, even though pulling pranks goes against every fiber of my being, I don't want to be holding you back from having fun with your friends while we're on our free period. I mean, I wouldn’t be mad if you went after them."

"Y/N," Sirius started, confidently, reaching out and taking one of your hands, "I want to stay here. With you. Because I'd rather be here than anywhere else. And, well..." He leaned a bit closer, his eyes flickering over your soft features. Your hair shone slightly in the sunlight which reflected off of it softly. His hand tightened around yours, bringing it to rest on his chest, "I'm usually good at this."

Swallowing thickly, you ran your tongue over your bottom lip, wetting it, "Usually good at what?" You asked, almost breathlessly.

"I'm usually good at talking to girls and charming them, y'know," Sirius tried to grin, "But, I've never been very good at... This..." He gestured towards you and himself with a finger, "I don't want to mess this up. I really like you, Y/N…" He admitted quietly, his cheeks heating up as he realized what he'd said.

A small, light laugh escaped your lips, causing Sirius to worry a bit, "Sirius..."

'Sirius what?' He thought, 'Sirius, I only want to be friends,' or would it be, 'Sirius, I actually like someone else, and it's not you.' There were so many terrible thoughts running through his mind of possible outcomes but at the slight squeeze you gave his hand, Sirius forced himself to ignore those thoughts and look back up at you.

Smiling at him reassuringly, you spoke, "I don't think you could ever mess this up."

"Really, love?" He asked, and you nodded, scooting a bit closer to him on the branch.

"Really, Siri. I really like you too.”

He chuckled softly before nodding his head, smiling back at you. The atmosphere became more comfortable again as silence surrounded the two of you. You stared into Sirius's eyes, your breathing hitching slightly. You were mesmerized by their beauty, and how deep they seemed. And did his hair always look this nice? 'Yes, always.' You thought, 'It looks so soft...'

"What did James sing to us again?" Sirius asked, his smile growing into a small smirk, "You and I... Sitting in a tree..."

"He's a menace." You laughed before shaking your head lightly, unable to stop smiling, "Mm, something about K-I-S-S-I-N-G." You mumbled, a light flush covering your cheeks. 

"Yeah," Sirius muttered, wetting his own bottom lip, his eyes narrowing on your own lips, "That."

"No," You mirrored his smirk, "I don't think I know that song." You answered sarcastically, feeling his warm breath on your face as he leaned forward again. And suddenly you felt his nose touching yours as his other hand came up and cupped your face, stroking your cheek with the pad of his thumb. He was so close, and yet so far. It was almost agonizing, but before he finally closed the distance between the two of you, you suddenly felt him slip away. Fluttering your eyes open, you became confused, only to hear Sirius yell out, followed by a 'thud.' Your eyes widened, looking down at the ground, where Sirius lay, groaning in pain. "Oh goodness! Sirius!" You exclaimed, quickly holding onto the branch, you began to fall backward, flipping yourself around, landing on your feet, "Sirius, are you alright?!"

If Sirius hadn’t been in pain, he would have commented how impressed he was by your little trick but the ache on the back of his head was distracting. "Mmhmm," Sirius groaned out his answer as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head briefly as he watched you hurry over to him; getting onto your knees, sitting on the back of your legs.

Reaching out, you carefully placed your hand where his hand was, feeling a slight bump. "You have a bump. Are you concussed? Is there anything else hurting? Do you need me to take you to the hospital wing?"

"Love, I'm fine, really," Sirius tried to reassure you, giving you a small - slightly pained - smile, "I’ve got my favorite nurse right here.” He joked, making you huff, but he continued, “There is actually something else that hurts actually, now that I think about it." He spoke, but you couldn't hear the growing playfulness in his tone as your worry overtook your senses.

Your eyebrows furrowed together as you frowned, "Where is it? I mean, you fell from what- Ten feet. I hope you didn’t break anything. What hurts?" You asked, almost ranting; frantic, as Sirius felt his chest warm at the sight of you worrying over him.

"Will you kiss it better?" Sirius asked and you vigorously nodded, placing your hand over his that was propping him up on the grassy ground. 

"Yes, of course, just tell me, Sirius Black." You insisted as Sirius gave you a small pout.

"Here..." He breathed, his voice low as he gestured to his lips with his other hand, "My mouth." He added as you tilted your head in confusion.

Pursing your lips, you furrowed your eyebrows, "Seriously?" You deadpanned.

Sirius just continued to grin, "That's my name…” He sighed, his playful gaze softening slightly, “And you could wear it out." He teased and you rolled your eyes, scooting forward so you sat in front of him; his leg instinctively crossed, allowing you to move closer in front of him.

"You’re ridiculous." You murmured with a sigh, a small hint of a smile threatening to appear on your face. You cupped the back of Sirius’s neck with one hand, catching him off guard slightly, your fingers resting delicately at the base of his neck. Brushing his soft hair there, you then gently pulled his lips towards yours. You felt Sirius's arms snake around your waist immediately as he quickly kissed back. It was a quick kiss, quicker than Sirius had wished, but nonetheless perfect. 

"Is that better?" You asked as you pulled away, voice soft as Sirius nodded his head, a dopey grin on his face.

"Much better, darling," Sirius responded with a wide smile before letting out a small slew of chuckles, making your grin widen and eyebrow raise.

“What?” You then asked, curious.

Sirius shook his head quickly, trying to contain his laughter, "I guess you could say that I siriusly fell for you." He joked, grinning as you raised an eyebrow.

You rolled your eyes fondly, "You're ridiculous..."

[poppadom0912]

Together (VIII)

Warnings: Warnings: Mentions of violence, blood, injuries, abuse, kidnappings, shootings, swearing and scary men.

Summary: Getting out only gets harder and Will doesn't know how much longer he can go.

A/N: I initially wrote the beginning of this chapter really graphically with a butt ton of violence but then I was like, maybe I should be nice but then I sat and really thought about it. So, my final decision coincides with a decent amount of violence, but the details will be sparse because I don’t want to scare you lot because that’s what loving writers do, you know. I hope you enjoy and love this chapter just as much as I do because guess what, this series will be done at around chapter ten or so, I haven’t decided yet. 😉

Previous Chapter / Series Masterlist / Next Chapter

So much had happened but what Will took from the experience was either: he majorly hurt two men, or he killed two men, either or. But he wasn’t sticking around to find out.

Will forced you to close your eyes and not look, he didn’t want you to see anything just in case it went wrong, and you ended up witnessing him get hurt which you surprisingly hadn’t so far.

The pocketknife had gone through the first man’s chest, and he currently lay immobile on the floor with blood pouring out his chest like no tomorrow while the second man had two bullet holes in him while he lay besides his accomplice, one near his kidney and the other somewhere around his collarbone. The sight should’ve made Will feel sick, but he didn’t and that’s what made him feel guilty.

“You can open your eyes now.” Will whispered to you, clearing his throat when he heard the coarseness of his voice. “Nearly there I promise.”

Will only heard you hum in reply and just as he was going to assume the worst, you started talking to him.

“Are you okay?”

Will took a second to answer you. He wasn’t the best when it came to violence, he knew just enough for sufficient self-defence and against two men who had most definitely been in crime for a long time, he was bound to come out unsuccessful. 

Blowing out a puff of air, Will gently set you down so your back was leaning against the painted wall. Making sure you were as comfortable as could be in your current form, Will pulled away and fell to his knees ungracefully.

Just as you were going to ask any more questions, Will peeled off his shirt that had already been covered in grime, sweat and blood to reveal not one but two gaping wounds in his torso.

The sight made you sick.

One of them was fresh while the other looked older, the blood not pouring out like the other. The older looking one was more towards his lower torso, you weren’t a professional, but you would say it was around his pelvis/kidney area while the newer addition was making itself comfortable at his ribcage; you didn’t need to be a professional to know that.

Sucking in through his teeth, Will screw his eyes shut as he tore the bottom half of his shirt. Ripping the ruined fabric into two, he tightly wrapped it around his bloody wounds, grinding his teeth as he did so. But just as he was tying it to prevent any more blood loss, the blood started soaking through his blue shirt, the colour changing to a dark purple of sorts.

Your hazy state had been semi-cured seeing Will bleeding. You had a slight suspicion he’d been hurt but not to this degree. You knew none of this was your fault, but you couldn’t help feeling guilty. Will had been selfless and helped you and Jay, leaving nothing for himself in favour for you two.

Gosh, you could already hear Jay’s anguish once he found out what Will did.

“Will! What on earth-“ You started but were interrupted by said man who only tightened the makeshift bandage and shakily stood to his feet. He looked over the dizziness and how he swayed slightly once he got up, along with ignoring the trickles of blood trailing down.

He looked on the verge of passing out which was very likely, but the man was as stubborn as a mule.

“Come on, give me your arms.” Will said, clearing his throat again as he gestured to you. “And don’t tell me you can walk, don’t give me that shit because we both know that you very well can’t.”

You closed your mouth, your words dying as he spoke. Your brothers still read you so easily.

Will winced as he hoisted you onto his back. Even in his weakened state and with you weighing as light as anything, he still struggled.

“Let’s get out of here.”

And Will remained true to his words. Navigating through the halls of the warehouse, you both remained as quite as mice, avoiding any men dressed in black at every turn. It wasn’t easy, at one point you nearly blacked out for a reason you couldn’t explain, and Will’s steps faltered every once in a while.

For the first time since being kidnapped, you let yourself feel hopeful.

Everything had been going smoothly aside from the two men who previously shot Will. But it seems that their unconscious bodies had been found because soon enough Will was cursing under his breath causing you to look ahead at what he saw.

And the rest of it all became just a blur.

*****

Will took the brunt of it all.

It felt like an entire lifetime had passed before it was all over with. Everything merged together. You were aware that they’d gotten to you too and you were aware that Will was still begging for you to be left untouched, and for once they listened.

When the room suddenly became silent, you felt it safe enough to open your eyes. But god, if you would’ve known what you were going to see, you would’ve remained blind for the rest of time.

You wanted the ground to swallow you whole.

Breathing heavily, Will groaned as he shifted himself, trying his best to sit up or at least lean against the wall.

It seemed that time permitted you something because you found some strength in you to crawl towards him, your ears prickling with tears at the gruesome sight of Will's worn and torn body.

Despite you enduring hours upon hours of torture, Will had taken almost the exact same under thirty minutes and eighteen seconds; you counted it yourself, hoping it could get your mind off of the violence happening several feet away from you.

Everything had been taken away from Will during his struggling, making it now impossible to leave. But even if that was a choice, escaping would no longer take priority anymore; survival would.

And survival was all that could be focused on.

Shifting onto your knees, you winced at the pain from all the pressure being put onto your bones. Will was ready to refute, moving his hand to push you away but you pathetically smacked it back, claiming you would rest once you fully looked him over.

And it wasn’t a very happy sight.

Will wasn’t fully able to comprehend the pain his body was going through. It felt like everything was burning and when he saw you, your distraught face only made him feel worse. Everything he did to protect you only brought you more pain and at this point, there wasn’t much he could do anymore to help.

The plan had completely backfired now, even if you wanted to you couldn’t try because the four objects that were meant to be your saving grace only pushed you two closer to your demise. They’d been taken away and now, both of you were stuck in a different room, freezing yourselves into hypothermia and all hope completely lost.

But, with the constant reminder that Jay was on his way, things weren’t looking as dull as they once were.

With that in mind, you let Will guide you through tearing his shirt off and tightly wrapping around his bleeding wounds, trying not to notice how it barely made a difference. Helping him took all the remaining energy out of you, so at Will’s insistence, you sat back besides him, both your body warmth being the only thing keeping you awake.

The rise and fall of Will’s body put you at a little ease along with his soft murmurs that distracted both of you from everything else. It probably wasn’t the right moment, but it felt calming, the familiarity of it all pulled your eyelids shut and before you could notice, you were gone to the world.

*****

Ever since Will called Jay, time was suddenly moving in slow-motion, simply refusing to go any faster for nobodies’ sake.

Jay wasn’t as religious as he used to be, growing up he was, and Will still had some belief in him, but Jay lost it after some time. But if praying and doing a little extra repenting meant having his siblings back with him where they belong, then Jay would do that and more.

Once in the car, Trudy made sure Jay called Voight letting him know what they were doing and where they were going. Voight said not to do anything rash, but Jay couldn’t make any promises.

Trudy drove as Jay called in backup because as Trudy said, ‘I’m going to need help holding you back.’ Jay didn’t say anything, only rolling his eyes as nerves suddenly flooded his system.

Hearing Will’s voice after so long shocked him. He longed to hear it after being separate for so long but over the phone, Will sounded bad. He sounded tired but relieved to be calling him yet underneath all of that, Jay could hear a tinge of pain.

Jay was itching to call him back, the unknown phone number sat on his recent calls, and he was inclined to press it and hear Will’s voice again. The conscious and practical voice in the back of his mind was smacking his upside the head for thinking so irrationally. He was a detective for goodness sake, he knew better.

As the car slowed down, Jay broke out of his reverie and looked out the window, his eyes catching sight of an inhabited warehouse with a company logo and name printed neatly on the front. It easily blended in with the rest of the road, camouflaging into the environment better than some drug fronts.

However, there was one big thing that gave it away and it brought a smirk to Jay’s scabbed lips.

Without having to wait too long, backup soon arrived, an entourage of officers, two swat teams and an ambulance ready on standby. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Sylvie and Violet waiting patiently with tense faces.

Jay called the firehouse too after calling the team. According to the paramedic in charge, the rest of the house were out on a call that was going to last at least another hour and there was no way Kelly was going to get out. So for now, the two paramedics would suffice.

He almost forgot how close everyone at 51 were, practically family the lot of them were and that was their sister trapped inside. This was as personal as things could get.

With an encouraging and affirmative nod from the SWAT team leader, Jay watched as the metal door was pried off by Kevin before wasting no more time and rushed into the building.

On his person he had two guns, one in a holster and the other in hand, identical to the long guns every swat officer held in their arms.

Jay was armed with them, pure determination and drive. He'd be damned if he was leaving this building without you and Will, he refused to leave here without the only people that made the rest of this worth it.

Jay refused to fail, he refused to leave empty handed. If he did so, then did he even deserve to leave here anyways?

Before Jay's thoughts could swindle further, the first of many gunshots went off and soon, the loud pops drowned out his thundering heart.

Series Masterlist:

@mads-weasley @sowrongitslottie @elite4cekalyma @senjoritanana @hufflepuff-blackwidow @mrspeacem1nusone @kmc1989 @goth-cowgirl-03 @daggersquadphantom @photographerkaiya0306 @jamie0515 @samanthavitale @iamasimpingh0e @lanea-1 @swidkid

[jerzwriter]

This is a fictional answer to @tobias-carrick-appreciation-week's What Would Tobias Do? question for day 6: What would Tobias do if he was dating someone he was (surprisingly) really into, then he found out they were a porn actress. This has me changing his dating history, because this is officially part of my HC. lol I hope you enjoy this flashback to The Hopkins Years fic!

Book: Open Heart (Pre-Series / Johns Hopkins Years) Pairing: Tobias Carrick x F!OC Other: Ethan Ramsey Rating: Teen - maybe Mature to be safe. Nothing explicitly. Words: 3,027 (sorry...) Summary: Tobias Carrick wasn't known for taking relationships seriously - at this stage of his life - he was there for a good time, not for a long time. Then he meets Stacy, and things change. He's finally accepted that's OK when a secret from her past threatens to blow it apart. How will Tobias react to the news, and what impact does it have on the couple?

A/N: I have additional A/Ns at the end. But participating in @julychallenge Pink: Romance, Vulnerable Black: Attraction, The Unkonwn

Ethan stood over the stove wearing no more than his old, blue terry bathrobe. His disheveled hair, stubbly beard, and raspy voice all indicators of how raucous last night had been. The fact that he was standing and cooking could be considered a medical miracle in and of itself, or so it seemed, until Tobias emerged from his bedroom.

They had similar nights, but Tobias looked no worse for the wear. Already fully dressed, with a bright smile on his lips,  he waved to his friend and roommate as he continued a conversation on his phone.

“I’m making eggs. Do you want any?” Ethan hollered, but the question went ignored.

“It was great,” Tobias grinned. “I’m so glad you thought so, too.”

Ethan rolled his eyes as he tended to the eggs; this uncharacteristic behavior had become more common in recent weeks.

“Do you have plans today? No? Well, I was thinking of taking a drive to Kent Island. I’d love the company if you’d like to come along? All right... great! I’ll pick you up in an hour?”

Tobias sat at the kitchen counter, where breakfast awaited him. He didn’t say a word until the weight of Ethan’s stare became too much to ignore.  

“What?” he asked, almost annoyed.

“I took the liberty of making eggs for you,” Ethan scowled.

“So I see,” Tobias smiled. “Thank you.”  

“I asked you wanted any... of course, you didn’t answer.”

“You asked?” Tobias asked with confusion.

Normally, Ethan would have been annoyed, launching into a tirade about how Tobias doesn’t appreciate his contributions, but today, all he did was smile. It was a novel treat to see his roommate behaving this way.

“It’s Stacy... isn’t it?”

“What?” Tobias gasped, not willing to confess the obvious. “No! I’m just in a good mood, that’s all.”

“Yeah! Because of Stacy! No need to hide it; I can’t blame you at all. She is stunning.”

Tobias looked as bashful as he was proud; Ethan only wished he could be recording this.

“She is, isn’t she?” He replied with a grin.

“She’s also intelligent, funny, a great conversationalist....”

Tobias leaned back in his chair. His smug persona on full display.

“Most of my women are, Ethan...”

“Please,” Ethan scoffed. “Beautiful? Yes, but the rest... very debatable.”

Tobias chuckeled as he finished his eggs, but he didn’t argue Ethan’s point.

“It’s OK... you know... to like her more than for a night.”

“I know,” his friend replied matter-of-factly. “I’ve been seeing her a while now... and I’m taking her out again today. But thanks for the permission, buddy.”

Ethan shook his head. “What I meant is you can like her seriously. It’s all right to think long-term; it’s OK to consider commitment. You’re not getting any younger, and it’s not every day you find someone as special as Stacy.”

“Yes, Mom.” Tobias dismissed.

Tobias knew his friend was right; in fact, it’s all he had thought about since he met Stacy two months before. It scared the shit out of him, but if he was being honest, the prospect was a little less frightening each day.

“Well, I never said we’re getting serious,” he argued. “I...I’m just... I like her, you know?”

“I know,” Ethan grinned. “And you could do worse. Have fun at the beach,” He said with a smirk. “Should I expect you home late?”

Tobias smiled like the Cheshire cat. “Maybe you shouldn’t expect me home at all.”

~~~~

Stacy heard Tobias’s car from nearly a block away. The beautiful weather meant his car’s roof was down, and Rhianna blaring from the speakers was the only calling card Stacy needed. She was already walking down her steps when he arrived, and God, she was a sight to see.

Tobias did his best to maintain his composure, but that was a tall task as she sauntered his way. Her long auburn hair glistened in the sunlight, and her white sundress hugged every curve. And that smile—innocent as an angel’s yet irresistibly inviting—left him utterly speechless, and Stacy didn’t miss a thing.

She hopped into the passenger seat with a giggle; not wasting a moment, she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into a deep, passionate kiss, and her effect on the man was instant.

“Mmmm,” he growled. “You need to stop that, or we’ll never make it to the beach.”

“Oh, we’re going to the beach,” she insisted. “Of course... who knows what we’ll do on the beach.”

Tobias held her hand most of the drive; he was both astonished and ashamed of how he felt. How was he falling so hard that even Ethan saw it? At any other time, he would have cut off all contact at once to stop whatever crazy feeling was happening, but with Stacy, it was impossible.      

It wasn’t just her beauty or the way the sound of her voice drove him insane. It was her quick-witted sense of humor that often left him and everyone else in stitches. It was her tender heart, like the time Tobias had to cancel a reservation he called in a favor to make just so they could tend to a wounded bird she spotted on their way. It was her brilliant mind, the head of her class in biotechnology; she could talk him under the table. He encouraged her to go to medical school, but she had already planned another path in painstaking detail. He didn’t want to admit it, but she could well be the whole package... and he was nowhere near ready for that... but he was already enchanted, and there seemed to be no way to break free of Stacy’s spell.

“Have you ever been to Kent Island?”  he asked.

“No. But then, I’ve only been to the beach once since moving to Baltimore.”

“What?” Tobias was stunned. “You’ve been here two years and been to the beach once?”

Stacy shrugged. “We can’t all be you, dear!” she teased. “Some of us have to put in a lot of effort to stay at the top of our class... not to mention some of us have to work to pay for Hopkins.” 

“Hey, I didn’t mean any offense,” he said with a kiss on her hand. “But I’m hoping you’ll let me spoil you a little.”

“Oh, what do you have in mind?” she cooed.

“Do you mean today or more long-term,” he smiled.

With his eyes on the road, he hadn’t seen Stacy’s face. If the words surprised him, they surprised her even more.

“Uh, let’s stick to today... for now...”

“All right, how does a walk on the beach and dinner at a great little seafood place, I know of, sound? We could spend some time on the boardwalk and maybe give me a chance to win you a prize.”

Reaching over the console, she placed a kiss on his cheek. “And here I thought you were my prize.”

“You’re good for a man’s ego,” he beamed as she placed her head on his shoulder for the remainder of the ride.

The day went as planned... better than planned... neither could remember the last time they had such fun so effortlessly, and they didn’t want it to end. Tobias rented a room at a local bed and breakfast where little sleep was to be had. After making love the night through, they woke up and showered together, only to decide to use that comfortable be once more before getting in the car to return to Baltimore.

Tobias was beginning to push his fear aside, and the stupid grin on his face made that perfectly clear. He was so wrapped up in the pastel summer haze he found himself buried in that he didn’t notice how quiet Stacy had become. She left his car rather quickly when he dropped her off, but he chalked it up to being exhausted... after all, they hadn’t had much sleep.

When he walked into the apartment, Ethan looked up from his studies and smirked at his roommate.

“So, your day at the beach turned into a weekend at the beach, I see.”

“Did you miss me, boo?” Tobias teased.

“Hell no! I loved having the place to myself. It’s so much more spacious when your big head isn’t here.”

“Hahaha,” Tobias ?. “Like your head doesn’t take up a ton of space.”

“Oh, it does!” Ethan concurred. “That’s why it’s more comfortable when only one of us is home. So... are you ready to admit that you really like this one?”

“I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me, bro... but I do... I haven't told anyone this, but Mandy called to hang out the other night, and you know what hang out with Mandy's mean... and I passed. I could have gone, but I passed. Who the hell am I?”

“It’s not the worst thing in the world,” Ethan chuckled.

“That’s the scary thing,” Tobias said with a yawn. “I’m starting to see that. I even mentioned it to Stacy this morning.”

“You what?”

“I told her I was falling for her and asked if she felt the same... I can actually see myself wanting... more with her.”

“Wow,” Ethan grinned. “If I knew this was going to happen, I would have added the earthquake rider to our rental insurance policy. Sure, the idea of an earthquake in Baltimore is far-fetched, but right now, not so much.”  

“Shut up,”  Tobias chuckled, heading toward his room. As enlightening as the conversation was, he was desperate for some shut-eye. And luckily, he got a little in before his doorbell rang several hours later.

Ethan had headed out to work, so Tobias wiped the sleep from his eyes as he groggily answered the door. Though he was delighted to see he was disturbing his sleep.

“Stacy,” he beamed. “I didn’t expect to see you again today?”

She bit on her lip, then a hesitant smile formed on her lips. “I hope it’s OK that I dropped by unannounced. I tried calling you, but....”

Tobias took the phone out of his pocket. “Sorry, I turned the ringer off so I could take a nap. But you’re always welcome, come,” he said, opening the door. “Come on in. What brings you by?”

After assuring they were alone, Stacy took a seat on the couch, holding Tobias’s hands in hers. “I came by to talk about... what you said this morning... about wanting more... with me.”

“Oh,” he replied, noticing her apprehension. “Well, if that’s not what you want, it’s OK, I didn’t mean to frighten....”

“Tobias,” she smiled, holding a finger to his lips. “Let me finish. The thing is... I do... want more with you, too... but I’m not so sure you’ll want more with me.”

“But I’m the one who...”

She shot a look in his direction, and he was silent again. “There’s something you should know first.”

Retrieving her phone from her purse, she pulled up a video, then closed her eyes -  pressing pause – both on the video and her conversation.

“Hey... are you all right?” Tobias asked, placing an arm around her shoulders. “If you don’t want to....”

“No,” she sighed, it’s important. “I hope... I hope you don’t hate me.”

She handed him the phone and watched as his eyes grew three sizes. There on that little screen was Stacy – his Stacy – naked and having a great time – with someone that definitely wasn’t him. Peeling his eyes away, he pressed stop and turned to her.

“All right, hon, I’m not going to be mad at you and an ex having a sex video... that’s nothing I’ll judge... but why the need to show it to me.”

“He’s not an ex,” she said with a deep sigh. “He’s an actor... just like me.”

A wrinkle appeared on Tobias’s brow, showing his utter confusion, and Stacy swallowed hard before she continued.

“See, if I tell you my screen name, you can Google me... and you’ll find a whole lot more where that came from... I... I’m a porn actress.”

His eyes grew again, and his face was ashen. “You’re an... oh,” he fumbled for words.

“Look, it’s not that I’m ashamed,” she continued. “It was a choice I made... a choice that allowed me to attend college, a choice that made going to Hopkins for my masters a reality. A choice that helped get my family out of poverty...though I never really told them why. I told them I won the lottery and, well... I didn’t.”

“Stace,” Tobias started, “You really don’t owe me any explanation, I....”

“You’re right,” she interrupted. “I didn’t... until this morning. If you want us to be serious – you have a right to know. You don’t deserve to learn by some jackass telling you he saw me in Throbbin’ Hood.”

Tobias lowered his eyes with a little chuckle. “Now I saw Throbbin’ Hood, and you were not in that,” he joked, not sure what to say.

“So you’re a connoisseur, and you’ve never seen my work,” she half smiled. “I don’t know if I’m relieved or insulted.”

“I... I’m not sure what to say,” Tobias faltered. “I mean, I don’t judge you; as a connoisseur, I’d have to be a pretty big asshole to judge you...”

“Well,” she chuckled sadly. “You’d be surprised... most connoisseurs are quite judgemental.”

“Well, I’m not,” he said, taking her hand. “It’s just....”

“It’s just I’m not exactly what you had in mind when thinking about something serious.”

“No! I didn’t say that!” He insisted. “It’s just... this is a bit of a surprise, and I, can I have some time to process it?”

“Sure,” Stacy grinned, leaning over and placing a peck on his cheek. “Take some time and let me know what you decide, but Tobias?”

“Yes?”

“If you decide you don’t want to go further because of this part of my past, I’ll be sad, of course, but I’ll be OK. The person I’m meant to be with... they won’t hold it against me, and if you do... then you’re not my person. I just thought it was only fair to let you know before things go any further between us.”

After a hug, Stacy headed home, leaving Tobias in a daze on the couch. She had told him her porn name, and he was caught between temptation and horror at the thought of searching for it. In the end, horror prevailed, and he put his phone away. He was still in a state of astonishment when Ethan arrived home, immediately noticing the change in his friend’s demeanor.

Tobias wasn’t about to break Stacy’s trust, but if there was anyone he could trust to keep this between them, it was Ethan, and he needed a trusted friend’s opinion. Ethan did his best to conceal his own shock at the news.

“It’s OK, buddy,” he half-smiled. “I think my jaw was on the floor when she told me, too.”

“It’s just that I... I didn’t see that coming,” Ethan sighed. “Wow... of all things. So, does it change how you feel?”

Tobias sat back thoughtfully, then shook his head. “I meant what I said; I’d have to be a total dick if I watch porn, but judge someone for making it.”

“Agreed,” Ethan nodded. “And while I’ve never been in porn....”

“Of course you haven’t,” Tobias teased, attempting to add levity to the conversation. “Who the hell would want to see you?”

“And while I’ve never been in porn,” Ethan repeated loudly, ignoring his friend’s interruption. “I understand what it’s like to be poor and not sure if you’ll be able to live your dreams. I’m not advocating nor judging the choices she made... but my advice to you is not to pursue things further unless you can really say you don’t care. She doesn’t deserve to be with someone who will hold it against her, even if it’s subconsciously.”

“I agree,” Tobias replied. “And the truth is, I don’t think I would.”

“There is one other thing to consider,” Ethan injected. “Your family. I don’t know how the Carricks would take to their heir dating a former porn star. Ultimately, it’s not their choice, but...”

“Oh, I’ve given that thought,” Tobias interrupted. “But I’m not exactly proposing; we haven’t gotten nearly to that point. In a way, the idea of pissing them off is rather enticing, but I don’t think that would be fair to her.”

“No, it wouldn’t be. At the end of the day, it’s your choice, but for what it’s worth, this conversation stays between us, and I, for one, won’t think of her any differently than I did this morning, and I certainly wouldn’t judge you.”

Tobias smiled the first genuine smile he had since Stacy had left earlier in the day. “Thanks, buddy. I appreciate you listening.”

The following day, it was Stacy’s turn to open the door to an unexpected visitor. She wasn’t sure if her heart was about to be filled with joy or break when she saw Tobias at the door. Which might be why she couldn’t utter a word.

“May I come in?” he finally asked.

“Yes, of course!” She muttered as he stepped into her front hall.

Noting her puffy eyes, Tobias wanted to put an end to her worrying as quickly as possible; that’s when he pulled the small bunch of flowers he had picked up on his way over from behind his back, and Stacy broke into tears.

“Hey, hey!” He said, pulling her close. “Yeah, they’re supermarket flowers, I could do better next time, but it was kind of an impulse decision.”

“Next time?” she asked with a cracked voice. “So these aren’t a consolation gift when you tell me you never want to see me again.”

“No,” he replied with a kiss to her forehead. “They’re an apology for causing you what I’m sure was a very stressful night. And they come with an invitation – could I take you to dinner  tonight?”

“So, you still want to see where this goes?” she smiled.

“I’m willing if you are,” he grinned, and she replied by running into his arms and sealing the deal with a kiss.

“So, where are we going to eat?” he smiled. “Your pick!”

“In that case, order in a pizza and a six-pack,” she beamed. “Because tonight, I want you all to myself.”

A/N 2: OK I feel like some of my Tobias readers will be disappointed because this isn't humorous. But even back in Hopkins, I think he was having a good time, but I don't think he was a total asshole. He wouldn't have judged her, and he would be a hypocrite knowing his body count was definitely much higher than hers. College Tobias? Maybe he would have been a bit more of an ass, but he was mature enough by this point to handle it better.

While I won't write more for the pairing, my HC is that they dated exclusively for a little while, and they were happy during that time. But eventually, split up. Toward the end of med school the competition between Tobias & Ethan was turning toxic, and that colored his world and impacted his decisions (usually, poorly). Further, Ethan and Vincenza had broken up, and Tobias was being her shoulder to lean on. He realized how strong his feelings for Vincenza were, and didn't feel it would be right to string Stacy along. Basically, he wasn't remotely ready for anything like this. Stacy was disappointed, but it was an amicable parting.

@choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

Tagging others separately.

[amoransia]

Really late, but here's my ekuoto chapter 70 commentary. Nothing special, just me freaking out. You know. The usual.

Watch out for spoilers!

Dante got a very special dialogue balloon with "..." in it. Which is curious to me. I'm sure it means some sort of reflection or surprise happening within him; I really want to what he's thinking. How do you feel? Knowing that the that child you were entrusted can't even bear to be awake anymore? That he runs to escapism? Must suck. Anyway.

On the other hand, dearest Daniel is real composed. Good job on getting info out of Belphegor. That's not really a high bar, though lmao... I mean, how are you a demon and can't LIE? Embarrassing... Go back to demon high school or something. Fall from grace again! The whole premise of your existence is being a lying thing that leads people to sin, and you're here having communication issues??? Dude. That's so moe.

Everyone thinking Belph's got something up his sleeve is fucking hilarious. No. Sorry. He's not Kira or anything like that. It's not all according to his "keikaku". He's just kinda dumb and suffers from Villain Monologue Syndrome...

Him saying "my witch", though... ough! (takes critical hit)

Really funny how he showed him off sleeping and everything. Why are you bragging? Is this something to show off? I guess it is for you... I'd be embarrassed if all my coworkers suddenly saw me sleeping on a plasma 100" inch TV, though. Maybe have a little consideration! Also, I don't think anyone's mentioned this before, but I think it's a cool detail that Priest's in a fetal position. Not only does this position bring one comfort, but it can also represent how he's about to be "reborn" as a witch of Sloth. The sphere he's sleeping in can kinda be a uterus, right?

Belphegor and Mikhail replying to each other while Leah was suffering out of confusion was funny. She got the straight man role forced onto her. Miha's "I see!" was cute. Very casual, as if he wasn't talking to a Demon Lord lol. To be fair, Bel is not really intimidating.

Meanwhile, Vir is busy trying to lead his shounen manga team to victory... (or not really.) They'll definitely get some piece of Belphegor though. I wonder what it'll be... he doesn't have anything like Asmodeus' eyes sticking out, so this is a mystery to me.

Me when I get excited about an interest of mine and end up yapping too much

Dante and Vergilius are heading to the same place, so they'll meet up again... I'm looking forward to the mess that comes out of that 👀.

Imuri needs to step up her game, or I'll be taking matters into my own hands because this is ridiculous. Femme Fatale? Wtf are you talking about. Fraudmuri. The Demon Lord of Fraud. Her true title.

Her biggest crime so far is being more in love with the idea of being in love with Priest than actually caring for him. Does that make sense? So far, she hasn't done any effort in actually coming to know him. She needs to KNOW!!!! At least I can respect that she also takes male rivals seriously... and her aggressiveness towards them. Lole.

She doesn't call Priest "sleepyhead" in the JP raws. I don't really mind the addition, but I thought it was worth noting here anyway. Makes it cute.

"It'll be over soon" Naw bro Imuri is coming at you with a fucking sledgehammer. Watch out.

Tiny Imuri is so fawking cute. I've been craving these Imuri flashbacks for forever because we know virtually nothing about her. What moves her. Why does she long to love!! We'll know in due time, I guess. But please show me a bit of it, Aruma-sensei...

Asmodeus being considerate enough to make sexual things vague to Imuri is nice, but it confuses me a bit. Well. I shan't dwell on it, lest my head blows up.

Imuri seems to have some complex about being a demon with no demon power, because she keeps asserting that she is a demon? Am I explaining this properly? Like in this chapter (ch.70) and chapter 3.

Anywho.

Imuri imagining the BL route... save me... my fucking sides... I burst out laughing the first time my eyes laid on that panel. True to her succubus nature, she didn't even consider the possibility of them using blood or whatever else instead of straight-up KISSING. Those are still bodily fluids, right?? Calm down, girl! Stay put!!!

"I'm not letting his first kiss go to some guy that just appeared!!" HE'S BEEN THERE FOR A DECADE! YOU ARE THE NEWCOMER!!! IMURI, GIRL!! You absolute buffoon! Clown, even!

Whew. Lmao.

This arc also feels like a callback to that one "sleeping beauty" comment from chapter 3.

...except their roles have switched.

This time, Imuri will be the one kissing Father on the cheek to wake him up, and it'll be so, so cute. Trust. Trust me. This will happen. (Going insane).

Go and make him your witch, Imuri... Dew it... Make a move... (screaming and crying)

[tjerra14]

[chinhands] Hey so. If you could put Ikrie into Forbidden West, what would she be doing?

Oh buddy, I am SO glad you asked! The short answer to this would probably be "chase her down and then glue herself to Aloy's side because her spear needs company and what else is she gonna do" but since I'm slightly (pathologically) passionate about all That, I'll put a longer one under the cut (and buckle up because it will likely be overly long)

It's no secret that I'm an ardent believer in "Ikrie would not stay in the Cut" because there's just too much in the game's text to suggest otherwise. She categorically excludes going back to the White Teeth, and quite possibly the other werak(s) she's known since then at the end of her quest on the foundation of her beliefs not aligning with theirs, brings up the possibility of maybe forming her own werak further down the line; and when you meet her again at Snowchants, she expresses a certain uncertainty about what she wants to do with her future. Will she go back to Ban-Ur, after a little time to heal? Will she build Hunting Grounds of her own? "Fate's a long climb on a high cliff for people like you and me," she tells Aloy, and who knows where fate will lead her?

If you're a little deluded, like me, the answer to that would be "Aloy's side". She certainly is overjoyed to see her again at Snowchants, and when you tell her that you'll do her challenge another time, one of her possible replies is "Then I'll stay a little longer." For her. (cue me chewing through concrete again) But then Aloy leaves for the West, and isn't exactly subtle about it considering she just disappears after the Spire affair. Even if you don't stick with my personal headcanon (which sees Aloy asking Ikrie to come with her), I still think that word of what happened at the Spire (or is going to happen, depending on the timeline you prefer to follow) would reach the Cut, and eventually Snowchants, and Ikrie; and I can't imagine her sitting on her hands knowing the one person who helped her when she was at her lowest could use some help now (plus we all know Ikrie isn't all that good at boundaries and letting things and people go). (There's also a whole bunch about her and Inatut teaming up as Gildun's bodyguards and ending up in the West that way in my head.) So, if we then just skip to the "what would she be doing" instead of the "how did she get there", I always thought she would be a) a much needed addition to the gang (there is no real Banuk representative, as Sylens doesn't really count. Granted, with Talanah's bigger role having been scrapped, the Carja are also amiss, but I've always felt that to really drive home the point of the game, having members of all tribes as Aloy's companions would've been crucial, and they failed to deliver on that) and b) nicely tie into the Utaru arc. I really like Varl, so nothing against him, but I've always felt his role during the Dying Lands cauldron dive would've been better given to another character. He was there kinda just to hold Zo's hand, and while he did a good job at that, to me it also felt it didn't add all that much to the plot and character development, and was frankly a little underutilised. He was just Kinda There. The only stake he had in this was accompanying his friend and girlfriend, and while you can make the argument that alone was enough, he didn't really have as much connection to what was going on main plot-wise as the others (Zo, Kotallo, Alva) had with their respective sections of the subfunction collection quest. So here's where I'm fully going off the rails: I would've thrown Ikrie into that mix. She's from the Cut. She knows a thing or three about machines, be it fighting them or how they work and normally behave ("In thin air, [Scrappers] can smell metal for miles"), and she knows how Hephaestus affects them. Sure, Apex machines are a step up from Daemonic ones, but the pattern persists, and I'm pretty sure that upon seeing them roaming Utaru lands she would be able to make the connection similar to Aloy. And knowing what they have done to her people, she would have ample motivation to prevent the same happening to the Utaru. Not to mention it would've been fascinating to see her interact with Utaru culture and their approach to the Land-Gods, as I see a lot of overlap but also plenty of differences between Utaru and Banuk mindsets, and well. She seems an interesting character to explore some of that. After that, there's the Base. From then on, I'd just think she'd be part of the team. Maybe disassembling machine parts. Kissing Aloy. Hogging the work bench where you have to collect millions of parts to get a corrupted override working. Not that I necessarily think that she would be particularly good at that at first, but she'd likely be interested to learn. After all, if everything she sees turns Banuk belief and tradition on its head, why not figure out how things work in a different way? Also causing some havoc with Kotallo, because why not.

ANYWAY. This has gotten overly long, but the gist of it is. Ikrie in HFW. Yes.

[oshiawaseni]

How I got the ChatGPT A.I. to admit Katsuki is in love with Izuku

Uhh... My friend has got me onto AI chat recently, and yesterday I was messing around with it, because I wanted to see if I can get A.I chat to come to the conclusion of bkdk canon, if I tell it additional context it doesn't know because it's cut off point is September 2021 and things between bkdk hadn't progressed too far at that point.

One thing to note: it constantly reminds me that it doesn't "have an opinion" it just forms objective analysis on the characters and the events. So I try to evolve this objective analysis as I went along the list of events that lead to Katsuki's death to see if a single detail of it might change it's 'objective analysis' on whether they will become canon.

The AI has a limited ability to use new information you tell it to string together an updated verdict. So that's what I did. And I used more and more details of Katsuki's death to Shigaraki as the context for the question. Because that's what convinced ME BkDk would become canon. As I was telling it details, I felt like I was pretty much only getting knockbacks. Until I finally had a single success. I also asked it the "kiss" question for those invested in a bkdk kiss. :)

However, at the end I did manage to find out why I got that one success, and the response it gave me is CHEFS KISS. So I will try to explain our conversation as best I can with some screenshots. This is long but, hopefully it's an interesting tale to read! This experiment also made me realise A.I. chat is crazy intelligent at communication.

So I got a negatory right off the bat and think: Since it only knows events up until a certain date, maybe I can tell it about some events that happen and see how it views Katsuki's and Izuku's behaviour?

I asked it what chapter it has access to and it said chapter 326. So it at least knows about the bkdk apology. (But it never factors this moment into it's analysis)

It also repeats this line a lot "It's ultimately up to Kohei Horikoshi." Which is true, I should probably try to re-do our conversation at some point and tell it it doesn't need to repeat this point, because it does become repetitive. Depending on your question it'll end it's answer with a "it's up to the reader interpretation." or "it's up to the creator."

I corrected it that it was chapter 322, but it only remembers details you tell it in your current chat. It, as an AI , can't learn from you for it's interactions with others. Oh well. Probably for the best...

"Midoriya forgives him and the two share a hug." This take is interesting. I never really thought about that. For Izuku they very much have a "there's nothing to forgive" dynamic, but in Katsuki exposing himself and letting down his walls, Izuku definitely felt safe enough to let his own walls down too and responded to Katsuki by apologising for his own behaviour, wanting to be close to Kacchan - stumbling towards him as he was passing out.

The anime clearly shows Izuku wanting, or needing a moment of intimacy with Kacchan that he's never had before, and Katsuki feeling the same way, catches him. So maybe there's forgiveness in that, in Izuku realising Katsuki was finally telling him it was okay for Izuku to be by his side, and that he wants him there.

Another way you can make sense of the AI's answer is that Kacchan needed to have Izuku's forgiveness, despite there being nothing to forgive for Izuku. And Izuku senses this, so he steps towards him to hug him or be closer to him and tell him it's all okay, but his fatigue cuts his desires short and Kacchan, noticing those desires, as he notices everything about Izuku *swoon*, holds him up. Yeah. I like that one too! Talking to AI about bkdk is a fun brain exercise, I'm not gonna lie.

I ask the AI if I can tell it more details of bkdk relevant to "will it become canon" and it replies that it will do it's best to provide it's objective analysis as it learns these new details.

It misunderstands some things such as when events happen but I find that kinda irrelevant to what I was doing, so don't mind these mistakes.

Btw, if I cut off the ss early, it's only because it's saying bkdk being canon is still vague/unknown, and the decision is for Horikoshi Kohei. This can be repetitive to read, so I cut it out. Like I said I'll probably re-do this conversation where I fix some of it's errors/clarify my context better.

It's not biting yet, so I tell it to give me an objective analysis considering the new things I say, and it understood this.

Then I test it:

Good, it can recall previous things I've said in the chat.

remain platonic." (Then it goes into another spiel about Hori being the decision maker.)

At least it said it was possible their relationship "could develop into a romantic one." So I gave it a little positive feedback :P

It's answer remains unaffected... so I go further into what happens.

It doesn't bite again. But I like how it says that he feels a sense of responsibility towards Izuku. That pulled on my heart a little bit...

But with my next context everything changes.

Turns out Katsuki getting up to "impress" Izuku was this AI's tipping point. It's got the wrong idea about "protecting Izuku" but it's also not wrong (which I clarify now and again later) Anyway, Katsuki wanting to be strong to impress the Izuku who loves him for never giving up, tipped this AI's scales towards romance, it would seem lol.

I dramatically clarify that Izuku is not at the battlefield, and ask if this changes it's mind about it's previous analysis. Spoiler alert. It doesn't.

I tell it more context about how Izuku isn't in time to save Katsuki and what happens to Katsuki: How his quirk evolution scares AFO inside Shigaraki, and ultimately is the cause of his heart exploding when he takes a blow to his chest. The vision in the white realm. His regret of not getting All Might to sign the card, and his memories of Izuku when he first got it. And the way he died, but I also told the AI that it is assumed he will be brought back to life.

I also mentioned (image count maxed out sorry, so I gotta type this):

"Meanwhile, we have some panels of Katsuki thinking about how much his body hurts, and reminiscing about that being the path Izuku walked down. He reaches out to the reader on the page, thinking the words. "Hey... Izuku... Can I still catch up to you?"

It ignores most of the details I told it here, but just adds in that Katsuki's strong emotional connection gave him determination to keep fighting and his quirk awakening. I really liked that. Because that's how I see it too.

Like when I got to the end of chapter 360, I was reminded of this scene in Sailor Moon S where Usagi is completely beaten but doesn't stop trying to transform into Super Sailor Moon, even though she doesn't have the chalice anymore. That was the first time I realised, this fight between sAFO and Katsuki had a vibe of Sailor Moon. And then that feeling hit me again when Izuku arrived and I made my 367 comparison to Sailor Moon Stars. Since then other bkdks have posted/talked about their own comparisons between BkDk and Sailor Moon/shoujo tropes. It felt very vindicating that others could see this about them too. ^_^

So it doesn't know what direction the series will head in, but it at least acknowledges that these events can be viewed as romantic. That's far better than your average mha fan, if you ask me... LOL

I wonder if I had worded this better and said "exploded heart" It would have gave me a different answer.

Bonus: So for fun just now, after rewording my question (a few times) for clarity, I finally got a pretty relevant response.

Anyway, going back to where we left off, I had just told it about the volume cover... and then I went into the topic of Gentle and La Brava showing up in the manga not long after Katsuki died. I misquoted Gentle (oops!)

So Gentle and La Brava are basically what is known in Japan as a "baka couple" that dotes on each other and describes their love for each other in great amount of detail - what I like about this answer is it's saying that by juxtaposing the baka couple with BkDk, who stay vague and barely define their feelings for each other ever, it highlights the tension and ambiguity going on between bkdk even more. I can also get behind this reasoning for it and add it in my La/Gentle meta. Wow, bot you're helpful!

Bonus: Just now, I tried to fix my mistake and rewote the question again and had to generate it's answer twice for this one. Good Bot! This, I can accept.

This is the only time I've regenerated any answers! I only took it's first answer this whole convo. But out of interest I'll probably regenerate more answers in future to see what other opinions it can formulate about a subject. It probably can come up with a wide range of perspectives, but only focuses on a very limited one for it's answer ^^

I like that it can identify that BkDk are having these same romantic tropes that Gentle/La Brava are talking about. AI Chat is amazing. Moving along...

At this point I'm feeling pretty content with our conversation so far, and I decide to ask it one more controversial question bkdks are quite passionate about:

A decent answer. I interpret this as "It's possible for a kiss, if Hori knows how to pull it off right." So maybe this is good news for BkDk Kiss enthusiasts! I'll be happy with a loving hug or a kiss, I don't mind at all, as long as they're canon at the end! lol :)

And now we come to the very last thing I say to it. I was happy to engage with an AI about bkdk, but something was bothering me.

Over the course of our conversation, the AI has told me "It's up to author." multiple times about whether bkdk will become canon... However, there was one time it said something different, and that my context "further supports the idea that Katsuki has romantic feelings for Izuku."

So I ask it to clarify one more time what it meant by that, and it slowly writes out this response:

WOW. What an answer. It blew my mind. "wants to be the best version of himself for him." This is some impressive stuff! ALSO THE BOT WAS NOW CALLING KATSUKI'S BEHAVIOUR FLIRTATIOUS?

But now I wasn't sure, I've never seen the bot say stuff like this. I wanted to clarify what behaviour it meant. Like whether it had misunderstood something I said about the way Katsuki died. But I had a feeling it was talking about Katsuki's tsundere behaviour! And so I asked it what it meant, and the most amazing thing happened...

The answer was written very slowly compared to before, as if the bot had to scrape a lot of information to form a well written response, and this is what it said!:

WITHOUT MY PROMPTING IT HAD BASICALLY CALLED UPON KATSUKI'S TSUNDERE BEHAVIOUR FOR IZUKU THROUGHOUT THE SHOW

I COULDN'T BELIEVE MY EYES.

HIS COMPETETITIVE NATURE?

HIS PROTECTIVENESS TOWARDS HIM?

HIS ///JEALOUSY// OF OTHERS GETTING CLOSE TO IZUKU ??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW???

HOW DO YOU *KNOW* ABOUT ALL THIS, AI-SAMA?!!! I SCREAMED READING ALL THIS. Even most bkdks don't really talk about Katsuki being jealous of others getting close to Izuku??? Wow. I was VERY impressed.

This answer was so different to everything it's told me before. The AI actually understands Katsuki as a character, and combined this understanding with my new information about him getting up to win for Izuku.

On a very surface level, it understood that Katsuki wanting to impress him in this case, is a core feature that's apart of Katsuki's overall behaviour towards Izuku and associated them together. Which meant that for it's answer, it could draw on Katsuki's other behaviours in it's knowledge bank, viewing them in whole. And it recognised that despite everything having gone wrong for him and knowing it was futile, Katsuki still had the determination to stand up and win for Izuku and impress him anyway, which especially made this an action of Katsuki's love towards Izuku that the AI can acknowledge as being about more than just mere friendship.

(Wew, that was a mouthful! Hopefully it kinda makes sense? I hope?)

And that is how I got an AI Chat to agree with us. A.I Chat is a bkdk, confirmed. Neeee, AI-sama?

[valiantstarlights]

Personal Trainer Dream being Horny on Main is my life's one true joy

He may even take progress pictures of Hob during the course of his "training"

Week 1 of Relationship

Hob suddenly gets a picture of him taking two of Dream's pianist fingers (and Hob suddenly has to find a way not to be horny on main)

Week 52 of Relationship

Hob gets a short video clip of Dream gently coaxing him into pushing out the toy Hob has been wearing the whole day and Dream pushing in to keep Hob full

I think this ask made my fever worse and took me out for an additional one (1) business day. 😂

But yeah, same 😊 Dream being horny on main for Hob will always be S-tier to me. 🥰

And progress pictures??? 🔥 Yes.

I imagine Week 1 Hob would be super flustered upon receiving that notification. What does Mr. Endless (Dream 🖤) mean by this? Is he praising him for the progress he's making? Or maybe he's asking him to provide an update on his 'homework'?

Meanwhile, Dream sent that picture to Hob simply because he wants Hob to know that he's looking forward to 'training' him again 😏 Like, it's a sext. (kinda) No hidden meanings whatsoever about it. And yeah, okay, maybe he would like for Hob to reply with something sweet like, "I can't stop thinking about you, too 🥰" or a flustered, "Dream! 🥺 I'm at work 🥺🥺" but it's fine if he doesn't. Dream just wants Hob to know how crazy he is about him and how much he occupies his thoughts.

So imagine Dream's face when, half an hour after he sends that picture, he receives Hob's reply. And it's a picture as well?

He makes the mistake of checking the notification.

It's Hob inside a university bathroom stall, trousers down and simple cotton briefs pushed to the side, showing off the (small) buttplug he went to work wearing. He's red in the face, but also smiling sweetly. And the caption is, "Doing my homework! 🥰"

(Dream runs to the staff locker room so quickly to masturbate while looking at Hob's ass and hairy thighs and cute smile. Oh, but what he'd do to be in that stall with him to personally check on his progress!)

As the weeks go by with Dream and Hob exchanging 'training' pictures for updates (it's not sexting! how dare you lmao), maybe Dream thinks that Week 52 needs something special, and so he sends a video instead.

(At this point, his phone's very hidden [and password protected] spank bank is just filled with pictures and videos of Hob 'training.')

Hob still gets shy and squirmy whenever he gets Dream's training pictures of him, but it's a video this time, and ???? Oh gosh, does he really sound like that? He sounds so slutty and well-used, and Dream hasn't even fucked him proper yet.

But it's Dream's voice that makes him whine out loud. His gentle coaxing, and his soft "Good boy," followed by the sound of him finally entering Hob like they've both been wanting to, and the sounds the two of them make as Dream tongue fucks his mouth while his cock starts thrusting inside him.

The video is less than a minute long, but it got him so hot and bothered that he has to cancel his last two classes to rush home (to Dream's house). But then...Dream is home, too? And he's been waiting?

Hob scolds him half-heartedly because doesn't Dream know that he still has a couple of classes left to teach? But he melts when Dream pulls him closer to kiss him. It's just one day in a year, Dream reasons. And anyway, it's a long weekend, and his students would be glad to have more free time.

And...wouldn't Hob want to spend the next few days reviewing everything he learned that year? He's made such a huge progress and Dream is very proud of everything he has accomplished.

(Hob comes to work the following week still dazed but happier than ever. Dream had stretched and fucked him so well, but he also made sure to give him lots of aftercare so he doesn't feel as sore as he should have. His hole still intermittently twitches whenever he remembers their long weekend, but he's wearing a brand new custom made plug keeping Dream's cum inside him from just that morning, so it's fine.)

(Little does he know that the plug vibrates and oscillates to target his prostate. Dream kept that one a surprise, only turning it on when they're both back home. He doesn't want anyone else to see Hob's pleasure-filled face or hear his seductive moans, no matter how many toys he uses to train his cute little hole with.)

[fox-quills]

Do have any additional thoughts/ideas you’d be willing to share about Mobius?

OKAY FIRST AN APOLOGY BECAUSE THIS HAS BEEN SITTING SINCE???? NOVEMBER????? I'm so so sorry anon I'm on mobile 99.9% of the time and I don't know where that stupid app hides asks but I'm like the t-rex from Jurassic Park I can only perceive movement 😭

Second thank you so much for taking the time to ask about my mostest favorite topic in the whole wide world! Unfortunately there's not a lot I can say about the fic story-wise without spoilers, although I have SO MANY post-fic thoughts I'm dying to share. Unless someone really wants my thoughts on how gender works in this particular omegaverse variant?? I spent so much time thinking about something that's only tangentially mentioned lol BUT, I can talk a bit about the process of writing Mobius! Because it has been an experience. I started Mobius just over a year ago (april or so), but didn't really knuckle down and and get cracking until June/July. It started as aideku, because I thought it was an interesting ship idea, but the few fics I'd come across hadn't really scratched the itch. I didn't even plan on writing it, but my beta at the time kept nudging me, and before I knew it I had a wholeass plot. And then a first chapter, at which point I was done for. In the original iteration of the fic, Hizashi was only meant to be the supportive BFF, but something in the original idea run (I forget what exactly) made my beta go.... hey how come this isn't a poly ship? And the answer was, I'd never written one before and didn't think of it, BUT IT IS NOW. (If you've read any of my other fic you may have noticed that this has become A Problem, and also led to a stealth love of dekumic, because apparently I wish to languish in rarepair hell) The fic has gone through about four major version changes. Aideku -> aidekumic (which came with some major detail pivots even though the overall plot hadn't changed) -> suffering reduction (it was gonna be so bad) -> suffering reintroduction, but different. It's gonna punch everyone right in the heart but I don't think I'm sorry about it. I'm also going to have to sneak back to the first chapter and retcon a detail once I get the actual logistics sorted. OH WAIT I DO HAVE A DETAIL I CAN SHARE THAT'S NOT A SPOILER ANYMORE. Although maybe skip it if you haven't read the latest chapter. Hizashi was, originally, not going to get together with them this early (not until near the end of the fic, actually). They still had the bond, and Izuku did eventually figure it out, but for [redacted] he decided not to act on it. So they both thought they had a one-sided bond, and just... never did anything about it. For a long while. Which eventually culminated in Shouta being away, Hizashi having an untimely heat, and him and Izuku sleeping together because mash an unfulfilled bond together with overwrought pining in a hormone cocktail and you get bad choices. Which resulted in a lot of immediate guilt in the aftermath, even though Shouta had clocked them ages ago and wasn't all that upset about it. Then something immediately happened to make things worse, but I can't disclose that part because it's still going to happen. ;)

That continued to be the plan until chapter 11 happened, with all the snuggling and purring, and @fondofeveryprickle read it and was like, "...if you wanna keep this I think you need to reevaluate The Suffering because these things do not mesh." Which resulted in a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth because that was a HUGE upset to the back half of the fic, and not something I was excited to re-jig. But she was right. And the new way was better. And then @scratchxiii said, "Hey what if we added Different Suffering?"

To which I replied, "Ouch my heart, that's absolutely devastating let's do it."

The blorbos uh, tend to get the worst of it when we're left unsupervised. BUT fresh suffering aside, the happy ending tag still applies, I'm just gonna make them earn it. :)

[cherryeol04]

In Darkness (M)

➻ Pairings: Minsung x Jisung

➻ Genre: paranormal au, horror au, psychic bond au

➻ Additional: humor, lust at first sight

➻ Word Count: 3.7K

➻ Warnings: N/A

➻ Author’s notes: This story is cross posted on multiple sites under the same username!

"This is going to be so easy." Jisung grinned as he reread the email for what felt like the millionth time. It was a simple request from a corner shop owner needing Jisung's help to figure out why “unexplainable” things were happening. Jisung was sure it was probably just another prankster ghost that didn't want to move on for one reason or another and a simple talking from Minho would get them to move towards the light. They had done it a dozen times.

Or maybe this time it would be a hoax - a rare situation but one that Jisung thoroughly enjoyed exploiting. It was fun watching the hoaxers trying to keep up with the lie when Jisung had an actual ghost with him that could cause so much more chaos than any human.

Speaking of Minho...

"What do you think?" he asked as he turned around, eyes meeting nothing. Yet the air around him crackled with electrical static that assured him Minho was there. Or at least listening. "Minho?"

"I think fame is getting to your head. No case should be easy, Sungie."

The words echoed through his ears as if spoken aloud, but Jisung had long since realized that Minho was only speaking in his mind. A neat "ghostie power" that Jisung loved, though it had brought up concerns that Minho could read his mind. 

He couldn't, thankfully.

"What do you mean? All our cases have been easy. A poltergeist that needed to be cleansed. A weeping mother reunited with her dead child. A young woman's bones finally found and laid to rest. Cut and dry cases, my man." The earring dangling from his left ear twirled and swung at Minho's obvious displeasure.

"I am not "your man"."

"You're right. You're my kitten." The static around him faded and Jisung could just picture Minho standing there flustered beyond belief, his ears a pale shade of red. Jisung never would have guessed that ghosts could blush, but ever since discovering Minho, he was learning a lot about the paranormal that he never knew before. "Your silence says it all, my cute little kitten." He cooed.

"Jisung!" Jisung winced at the sudden hiss, recoiling violently because fuck if that wasn't right in his ear brain. "Shut up and we're not doing this case. We need to stop."

"Why?" Jisung asked, confused. "I just said he was going to be an easy case. We go in, you do your ghostie thing, I tell the person the deed is done and we're out of there."

"Mmm." Jisung didn't like that noise. It never bolded well for him. "Yes, that's how it'll go. I'll do all the hard work and you'll take all the credit."

"Well duh, it's not like I can just say 'hey my ghost friend is gonna speak to the other ghost and get rid of it'. They would lock me up so fast." Jisung frowned as a thought ran through his mind. "I'm not crazy anymore," he muttered.

"You could be a little more appreciative of what I do, instead of jumping onto the next case."

"I tell you "good job" all the time!"

The air around him suddenly turned stale and Jisung realized that perhaps that wasn't the right thing to say. Sighing softly, he turned back in his chair and leaned back into it. "Min, come on. I'm sorry." He quickly apologized, swallowing thickly at how dry his mouth felt. "Babe, please? Let's just do this one more case."

"Do it yourself."

The finality in the tone that rang in his ears was chest clenching. Jisung hadn't meant to piss off Minho, but surely the other knew how much Jisung appreciated him. He really couldn't do this ghost-solving all on his own. 

Or could he? 

It shouldn't be that hard. Sure he wouldn't have an actual spirit to tell him what was going on, but Jisung had done enough cases to know the basics of it. It shouldn't be that hard then. Grinning, Jisung sat forward and hit reply on the email, typing a quick message agreeing to come out to the shop and do an initial consultation and walkthrough.

He's got this.

----

Jisung winced as more fireworks went off above him. He completely forgot that Saturday was the Cherry Blossom Festival. If he had remembered, he certainly wouldn't have scheduled the walkthrough that night. At least the roads and sidewalks were practically empty, the majority of the city folk were at the national park to celebrate. The walk from his apartment to his destination was made in silence, his earring dangling lifelessly. Minho had been giving him the cold shoulder for a few days now and Jisung was really starting to miss the spirit. It was like a part of his soul was missing, even if they were still connected through the earring.

"I can do this. I'll show him. I'll solve this case all on my own." It was a useless pep talk, but somehow seemed to encourage Jisung regardless. Checking the map on his phone, Jisung stopped in his tracks and looked to his right. There stood a moderately sized building with a neon sign reading "Red Lights Toy Shop." The windows were tinted, so Jisung couldn't see what was inside, but just from the outer context clues, he was pretty positive that this wasn't a kid's toy store. With a deep breath, Jisung walked up to the door and opened it. He was greeted with bright lights and shelves of vibrant adult toys.

"Just my luck," he muttered as he stepped inside and looked around. Right off the bat, he could see rows of dildos and vibrators, a few shelves of lube, and a couple of glass cases that held some sort of weird medical devices, or so he assumed. Jisung wasn't too versed in all the types of sex toys in the world. He was only familiar with the basics and the sizes they can range in.

"Hello?" Jisung's voice seemed to echo in a way that wasn't possible, but perhaps that was just his own mind playing tricks on him, making him believe the place was just as empty as how his head and heart felt without Minho being around. Or maybe that was just philosophical bullshit and the acoustics in the shop were just shit. "Anyone here?" Jisung trekked deeper into the store carefully, eyes drawn to the multitude of pretty colors on display, one in particular catching his eye. It was a ghastly pale dildo, unnatural in both length and girth. The name on the box read "Ghost Rider" and just under it was a small sticker exclaiming that the toy glowed in the dark.

There was an obvious reason Jisung was drawn to it, mind wandering right back to his ghostly partner. Reaching up, he touched his earring gently, a small crackling sizzle sounding as an electric current coursed through his fingers causing them to tingle. It was a small sign from Minho that he was there and the weight that Jisung didn't even know he was carrying was lifted. Relaxing slightly, Jisung grabbed the box off the shelf and turned it over, reading over the item description and functions.

"That's one of our most popular items."

Jisung let out a terrified and high-pitched scream, dropping the box in his hands as he whipped around quickly, eyes landing on the man standing behind him. A tall, blond and handsome man that hadn't been there fifteen seconds ago.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" He sounded concerned, but the bemused smirk gracing his plump lips said otherwise.

"F-Fine." Jisung squeaked out, heart hammering in his chest. He took a deep breath and swallowed, trying to will his fear away. "Warn a guy next time."

"Sorry, thought you heard me." Mr. Handsome shrugged. If it wasn't illegal for someone to be so breathtakingly gorgeous, it should be. And Jisung just may start that petition. But at a different time, he needed to focus on the job at hand.

"It's fine." He cleared his throat and dusted off the front of his white shirt. "I'm looking for Mr. Hwang."

"That would be me." Mr. Handsome Hwang flashed a charming smile.

'Don't swoon. Do not swoon.' Jisung chanted over and over. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jisung."

"Ah!" Recognition flickered across Mr. Handsome Hwang's face. "Mr. Han! Thank you so much for coming. Please, call me Hyunjin." Hyunjin grabbed Jisung's hand and shook it enthusiastically to the point that the rest of Jisung's body was shaking with it.

"Pleasure's all mine." Jisung carefully extracted his hand from the other's grip, shaking some feeling back into it before letting it fall. "So, would you like to give me a little bit more backstory?" he asked.

“Of course, of course.” Hyunjin ran his fingers through his hair, simultaneously looking so innocent and hot. The man should honestly be a model. Why was he running an adult shop anyway? “Let’s go to the back room.” The shiver Jisung experienced was completely involuntary, or at least that’s what he told himself as he nodded and followed Hyunjin to the back room. 

The moment he entered the room, another shiver ran through Jisung, and not a good one. It was so cold, unnaturally so. Though Hyunjin just waltzed in seemingly unaffected. Maybe this was the normal temperature of the room? “Have a seat.” Hyunjin motioned to the empty computer chair. Jisung hesitated for a moment before walking over to it and taking a seat. “So, where should I start?”

“From the beginning.” Jisung grinned. “When did you first notice things happening?”

Hyunjin hummed as he moved to lean against the edge of the desk, facing Jisung. “About six months ago.” His expression was pensive. “I bought this place second hand and at first everything was fine. I had it remodeled for a better layout for the toys and I’ve seen enough ghost shows to know that activity starts when remodeling happens.” He snorted. “So imagine my surprise when remodeling finished and it took another three months before anything even happened!” The longer he talked the more animated Hyunjin became, arms flailing and Jisung was a little scared he would get hit. 

He did want to interrupt him, however, letting him know that not all activity starts when the resting place of a spirit is disturbed. It could take any amount of time. But Jisung felt like if he did interrupt Hyunjin, he would somehow be on the receiving end of an accidental blow from excitement. So he thought it better to just stay quiet for now. 

“But once it got started, it really took off.”

“What exactly has been happening?”

Hyunjin paused, staring long and hard at Jisung, unnerving him. It almost felt like Hyunjin had just ‘shut down’ in a way. Like he was a robot. After a few long, suffering moments of silence, Hyunjin blinked and nodded his head slowly. “So at first it was just items being moved to different locations. Like instead of a bottle of lube being on its shelf, it was actually at the checkout counter.” he explained. Jisung reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, opening his note app and jotting down the activity.

“I just thought maybe I forgot where I put something.” Hyunjin shrugged. “Then it increased to the alarms going off at night. The motion sensors would be triggered and I would get calls from the alarm company and police and after reviewing the security cameras, there was nothing suggesting someone tried to break in.”

“No blind spots?” Jisung instantly asked, brow arching though he never looked away from his phone.

“None.”

“How often did the alarm go off?”

“At first it was only once every few weeks, but recently it became a daily occurrence to where I had to get rid of the alarm system altogether.” Hyunjin sighed heavily, shifting his position to lean the majority of his weight on the arm propped up on the desk.

“That sucks.” Jisung frowned and looked up at Hyunjin. “Anything else?” It really seemed like a simple case of a trickster ghost. One that just enjoyed playing pranks on the mortals and probably would easily move on if cleansed. Of course, cleansing was something that Jisung hated the most because it was difficult for him to get the ritual right. It was always easier to just have Minho convince the ghost to move on, but Jisung didn’t have Minho for this case. 

“Well, yes.” Hyunjin whispered and the hesitation in his voice had Jisung perking up with curiosity. “More recently the activity has grown…physical.”

“Physical.” Jisung repeated, swallowing the lump that suddenly formed in his throat. “H-how so?”

“Employees would get pushed or scratched. It’s cliche I know.” Hyunjin shook his head. “And at first I thought they were just joking. It’s a running joke at the store that it’s haunted. But then one day I came in early to help with a shipment we just received and in the middle of taking inventory, I watched as my employee was shoved to the ground.”

“Shoved? Like, shoved?” Jisung asked stupidly, demonstrating with his hands a pushing motion.

“Yes. They were standing there and I could see their shoulders suddenly lurch forward and down they went.” Jisung nodded, making more notes. “They said they were pushed and their back was on fire. I was worried they had hurt themselves when they landed, so I went to look and there were four large scratches running from the top of their right shoulder, all the way down to the left side of their waist.”

That was just great. Scratches. That was more than just a ghost. Not that a ghost couldn’t be mean and physical. It wasn’t uncommon for intelligent hauntings to have some sort of physical activity but the scratches felt so malicious. But Jisung didn’t want to just jump to the conclusion so fast that it was a demon or something. If it was, then that meant this wasn’t an easy case and couldn’t be solved. Jisung had no experience with demons and had no religious affiliation. 

Taking a few calming breaths, Jisung locked his phone and stood from the chair. “That’s quite a long list of activities and since it’s physical it’s really important that I start now to figure out what is really going on here and how to cease the activity.”

“Do you really think you can do that?” Hyunjin asked, eyes shining with skepticism that Jisung didn’t take kindly to. The other was the one who reached out to him in the first place. Why would he be skeptical that Jisung could help?

“Of course! I’m sure you’ve read on my website, the extensive experience I have and the many people I’ve helped. I’m confident I can help you too.” Hyunjin smiled and Jisung’s heart fluttered. God he really was a beautiful man, and so tempting. So so tempting.

“Alright, if you think so, then I’ll believe it too.” 

“Great, so then if you don’t mind, I think I’ll just wander around a bit and get a reading of the store.”

“Sure, just be careful though. I’ll be back here if you need me.” Hyunjin moved and took a seat at the computer chair, waving to Jisung as the younger man left the room and headed back into the store front. 

For a split second, the air sizzled and moved before dying down. Jisung looked around carefully, searching, but saw nothing. Reaching up, he touched his earring, but unlike earlier, he was greeted with stillness. He had hoped that the sudden current had meant Minho manifested and was ready to work with him. He was wrong. Minho was still avoiding him.

“Fine, I’ll do this myself.” he muttered lowly, flicking the earring in spite. It was stupid to fight about this, and Jisung knew it. But his pride wouldn’t let him apologize properly to Minho. The other really was just trying to look out for him, for them. Jisung wasn’t a greedy person, really he wasn’t. He hardly charged enough for the trouble they went through when confronting ghosts to get rid of. It wasn’t about the money. It was about helping others rid themselves of their paranormal nuisance. 

No. That wasn’t right.

It was about helping the dead finally move on. To break their earthly ties so they could finally find peace. It’s what they all deserved. 

It’s what Minho deserved.

Walking back into the store front, Jisung scanned the open area. It was the typical boxy layout, shelves lining the walls with a few free-standing cases in the middle of the room. There wasn’t a lot of product, but it was certainly enough variety to keep people coming back for years (or days depending on how quickly they went through toys). Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and while the place had a ‘creepy’ vibe, there was nothing that screamed “ghost!” Jisung sighed, shaking his head. This was usually the point in the investigation where Minho would walk around and tell him what entities were residing in the place, what their motives were and the best way of getting rid of them. This was definitely going to be harder than he thought. 

“Okay, so if you were Minho…” Jisung trailed off as he wandered to one of the shelves in the middle of the room, taking in the various types of lube displayed. Flavored, silicon based, water based, even anal specific. It still amazed Jisung of the variety that exsisted. He always thought there was just one type of lube, but that’s what he got for shopping for lube at the local grocery store. As he was staring at the product, a chill ran down his spine - so freezing cold that his teeth chattered.

Turning quickly, he had expected to see Minho hovering behind him, but there was no one. From the corner of his eye, Jisung thought he saw something move, however, when he looked over, there was nothing there. Another chill ran through him, though it was less cold this time and more paralyzing. As if he were a deer caught in headlights, pinned down under an unseen stare. No matter what he tried to do, Jisung just couldn’t get his body to move, eyes locked on the corner of the room where he had thought he had seen movement. 

Fear gripped his heart as he watched shadows crawl up the wall. A swirling mass of inky blackness that coiled and morphed into a figure. At first glance it looked like a solid mass, but the longer Jisung stood there, the more he could see that it wasn’t solid. The shadows were still swirling, twirling about in a mesmerizing rhythm. He felt like he was falling into a trance, the fear that once gripped him slowly melting away. Jisung knew this was bad, and that he shouldn’t be giving in. He should be fighting, but the shadows were calling to him, beckoning him to join them.

He took a step forward and the shadow creature growled, low and guttreal. The hairs on the back of Jisung’s neck stood on end at the sound. Another step and another growl followed, this time even deeper than the last - something Jisung didn’t think was possible. He could feel the rumble of it in his chest. A third step and Jisung knew this was it. Silence suddenly fell over him and not just the typical silence any person could find themselves in - this silence was devoid of any white noise. The absence of sound unnerved Jisung. He felt like he was in a void and maybe he was. This creature - entity - had sucked all the life out of the surrounding area, leaving him in an empty abyss. While he could still see the store, it was like he wasn’t physically there. 

The entity growled again and against his own will his body took a fourth step. That was his undoing. The entity lurched forward and in a split second it closed the distance between them. A searing pain knocked the wind right out of him and Jisung was all too aware of the large fist now embedded in his chest- right over his heart - the pain radiating from it. Weakly, Jisung reached out and wrapped his fingers around the shadowy wrist. To his surprise, they didn’t phase through. 

“F-fuck off.” he struggled to get out and while there were no noticeable facial features, Jisung could feel the anger radiating from the entity. The hand tightened and Jisung cried out in pain - his heart stuttering and struggling to continue pumping. His vision blurred, the edges growing black. The only thought running through his mind was that this was the end, this was how he was going to die. He really should have listened to Minho. God, he was such a fool!

“Jisung!” 

As the world faded to black, Jisung felt the pain in his chest disappear.

----

Jisung groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, pleasantly surprised to find himself in a dark room. Yet the cold water of reality washed over him as the previous events came rushing back. Jolting up, he looked around frantically, searching for the entity that had tried to kill him. He realized, probably a little too late, that he was laying in his bed, in his room. How he got there, he had no idea, but at least he was safe. 

“Fuck.” he whispered, reaching up to rub his chest lightly. It was still sore, a faint ache throbbing as a reminder of how close to death he had been. The thought frightened him, but what terrified him the most was that Minho had been right. They shouldn’t have taken the job and it wasn’t as easy as Minho made it seem. Jisung had been so stupid to think he could do it on his own, and he nearly paid the price for it. 

…

But he didn’t? He wasn’t dead. Why wasn’t he? The entity had literally been squeezing the life out of him, but he had somehow survived? It wasn’t adding up. Closing his eyes, Jisung thought back, shuffling through the fury of memories and emotions in hopes of figuring out what happened.

“Jisung!”

The scream echoed in his mind, Jisung’s eyes shooting open. “Minho.” he whispered.

“Finally awake?” Jisung screamed at the sudden voice sounding next to him. His head whipped around, eyes narrowing as they landed on Minho’s face, mirth dancing in his eyes. 

“Jesus Christ! You scared the shit out of me!” He gasped out, wincing as he clutched at his chest, a sharp pain shooting through it before dulling.

“Jisung.” Minho whispered, the bed dipping around Jisung’s body as the other climbed on. Minho reached out and swatted Jisung’s hand away, replacing it with his own. Warmth spread gathered under the touch, slowly spreading outwards, Minho’s hand glowing in the process. It eased what dull ache was left and Jisung had to wonder if this was just a ghostly power or if Minho had been a healer in his past life. Silence fell over them, the light slowly dying, the warmth waning. “I’m sorry.” he whispered softly. 

The apology caught Jisung by surprise. Mainly because he thought he should be the one apologizing. He was the one that had been stupid and got himself nearly killed. Reaching up, Jisung rested his hand over Minho’s for a moment before pulling it away so he could lace their fingers together. “Don’t be sorry.” he whispered, lifting his gaze to meet Minho’s. “I’m the one that’s sorry. I-I should have listened to you. I was stupid and thought I could do everything-” The snort Minho let out had him pausing. 

“Yeah, you were stupid.” Minho scoffed before sighing. He moved himself into Jisung’s lap, sitting down carefully on him. “But I’m still sorry. I should have-” he stopped and Jisung could see him struggling with the words he wanted to say next and Jisung was pretty certain he could see some wetness welling up around the rim of his eyes.

“I should have stopped you the moment you walked into that place. Should have told you to just leave.” Minho lowered his head, brows furrowed. The temperature in the room started dropping and Jisung flashed back to that entity. But unlike that creature, this temperature drop was all Minho’s doing and that was the only reason Jisung freak out. He watched as ice and frost slowly began creeping along the walls. “But I didn’t because I was still mad and you nearly di-” Minho’s voice cracked, and with it the ice on the walls as well. “I should have done something sooner!” Minho forced out as he tried to swallow his sobs. Jisung wrapped his arms around Minho’s shoulders and pulled the other against him. Minho latched on easily, burying his face in Jisung’s neck. 

Jisung’s chest ached for a different reason this time around. It wasn’t often he saw Minho upset and emotional. The ghost was usually very calm and collected or spent most of his time invisible to Jisung, the only giveaway of his presence being the static emitted from the earring Jisung wore. In the time he had been with Minho, Jisung couldn’t recall a single time the other had cried. This was a whole new territory for them, but Jisung wanted nothing more than to comfort the other. “It’s okay Min.” he muttered softly, pressing a gentle kiss to the side of his head. “I’m fine.” 

“Only because I intervened.” Minho sobbed, fingers curling into the material of Jisung’s shirt. “If I hadn’t … If I had been one second too late,” Jisung hugged Minho tighter as his sobs grew in intensity. He didn’t need the other to finish the sentence to know where he was heading. Jisung was thankful Minho intervened when he did, grateful to be alive and able to hold the other like this. “I’m so sorry.”

“Min.” Jisung frowned and tried to pull the other away from him. Minho fought, struggling to stay cuddled against Jisung’s chest, but he gave up after a few seconds. “Baby,” Jisung started as he slid his fingers under Minho’s chin and lifted his head. Minho’s cheeks were ruddy and tear stained, eyes red and swollen, and yet he still looked absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. I’m the one that’s sorry. I shouldn’t have upset you and I shouldn’t have let our argument carry on for so long. It’s my fault.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Yes it is.”

“No it’s not.” 

“Yes it is.”

“Don’t argue with me, Han Jisung.” Minho snapped. Jisung stilled, staring at Minho cautiously. “I’m the one in the wrong.” The finality in his voice gave Jisung the urge to disobey, but he held back - this time.

“Okay fine.”  Leaning in, Jisung brushed their lips together in a ghost of a kiss. “Thank you for saving me.” 

Minho snorted and rolled his eyes, looking away. “It’s not like I was just going to let you die,” he muttered. No, Minho wouldn’t let him die. There were various reasons for that, Jisung was sure, but the main reason was that Minho loved him, at least he hoped it was. Because Jisung was absolutely head over heels for the ghost. It hadn’t been something he wanted to happen, it just did.

“Thank you, Minho.” he whispered. Leaning in, Jisung kissed him softly, a hand cupping Minho’s face gently. He could feel Minho melting into him, body leaning heavily against him. On any other occasion, Jisung would be able to support the added weight, but given the circumstances it came as no surprise that he fell backwards on the bed, Minho following. His hands rested on Minho’s waist as the older male settled over him. 

Pulling back from the kiss, Minho sighed, resting his forehead against Jisung’s. Jisung took the time to look him over, the way his brows were still creased together. He could tell that Minho was still blaming himself, even though Jisung never thought it was his fault. He wasn’t entirely sure how to get that through Minho’s head though. He did notice that the temperature in the room was slowly rising once more, an indication that Minho was calming down. That was good. Jisung didn’t want a repeat of the last time Minho was angry and he broke every mirror in the house. 

“Ji-” Jisung cut Minho off with another kiss, not really wanting to hear what the other had to say. If he had to guess, it was going to be another apology and those were just getting boring now. He had already forgiven Minho, even though there wasn’t anything to forgive. But they were both stubborn and getting Minho to understand it wasn’t his fault was like talking to a brick wall. Breaking the kiss, Minho huffed, sitting up fully as he stared down at Jisung, eyes lidded with an almost unreadable expression. “I love you.” 

The words echoed in Jisung’s mind, sending a shockwave through his system. Not because Minho confessed his love, but because he had never heard Minho speak in his head while staring directly at him. Another ghostly ability that Jisung hadn’t been aware of. Everyday he discovered something new about his lover. “I love you too.” He replied easily, smiling at him. Minho gasped softly, face softening, allowing himself the tiniest of smiles that would have easily been missed if Jisung didn’t know what he was looking for. His hands left their perch on Minho’s hips, slipping under his shirt and dragging slowly up his sides, pulling his shirt up in the process until it suddenly disappeared, along with the rest of their clothes. 

Sometimes Jisung wondered if there were any limitations with being a ghost, because it just seemed like Minho was able to do magic. But there was a limitation to all the ghostly powers. Minho could only do things for so long before he needed ‘recharge’, which usually meant he returned to the astral plane and communication could only be made through his grounded object - talking in Jisung’s mind. It wasn’t a horrible trade off, considering Minho made it hassle free to have sex. 

“Min, you know we don’t have to do this. I kinda almost died earlier and-” 

“I need to.” Minho whispered, his voice cracking once more. “Need to know you’re still here.” He swallowed thickly, voice shaking. “Need to know you’re still alive. Please?” Jisung honestly couldn’t say no to him. Not when he sounded like that - not after everything they’ve been through. And truth be told, Jisung really wanted it too. He just wasn’t sure he had the stamina to please Minho at the moment. 

He nodded. “Of course, baby.”

Minho grinned, rocking back against Jisung, pulling a strangled moan from him. “Just lay back and let me handle everything.” Jisung was more than okay with that. He could handle Minho taking control and doing everything right now. Minho rocked his hips again, Jisung’s cock nestled snugly between his cheeks. Occasionally the head of his cock would catch on Minho’s rim, pulling shuddering breaths from both of them. “Fuck.”

“Please Min.” Jisung whimpered, hips lifting slightly. Minho’s eyes narrowed and he raised up onto his knees. The sudden lack of warmth against his cock had Jisung whining, a pitiful pout on his lips, though Minho didn’t appear to be swayed by it. Jisung jerked at the cold touch to his legs, eyes widening as he looked down but saw nothing. It slowly climbed up his thighs, to his hips with a great force, pinned them back down on the mattress. “Babe.” he gasped out, trying to lift his hips, but they wouldn’t budge.

“I told you to let me handle everything.” Minho replied sweetly, running his fingers through Jisung’s hair a few times. “Are you going to be good and listen?” The sickening sweet condensing tone in his voice had Jisung shuddering, head nodding rapidly, eager to please the other. “Words.”

“Yes.” Jisung exhaled.

“That’s my good boy.” Cooing, Minho slowly lowered himself back down, hips rocking against Jisung’s achingly hard cock. And despite just promising to be good, Jisung tried to gain more friction only to find his hips still pinned down by the ghostly force. 

“Aw baby.” Minho tsked, shaking his head. “You promised you would be good for me.” The disappointment was evident and Jisung wanted so much to make back his actions. But he couldn’t help it, Minho just felt so good against him and he wanted so desperately to be buried inside the other. “I guess you don’t really want this.”

“I do!” Jisung shouted, cheeks flushing in embarrassment as Minho raised a brow. “I’m sorry for being bad. But it just felt so good. Please, I need you Minho.” Jisung wasn’t above begging, that was for sure. But he doubted he needed to do any real begging to get Minho to actually move this along. Minho hummed in thought, and for a split second Jisung thought he might actually deny him. 

“You’re lucky you’re cute.” It wasn’t an outright no, which Jisung was thankful for. He watched with bated breath as Minho lifted himself just enough to grip Jisung’s cock and position it at his hole, a wanton moan falling from the other’s lips at the touch. It still amazed him at how much and how quickly Minho could turn him on - leaving him a leaking and aching mess. Minho waited for what felt like an eternity, and when Jisung finally looked up at him, he smirked - sinking down down on him, his hole stretching easily around the other and engulfing him in one go.

“Oh fuck.” Jisung gasped out in pleasure. Minho seated himself fully on Jisung, Jisung’s hands shooting out to greedily grab and palm over any bare flesh within his reach. His fingers sunk into the soft, supple flesh of Minho’s ass, squeezing a few times. “You feel so good baby. So perfect around me.” he babbled. Minho groaned softly, swirling his hips slowly and pulling another moan from the male beneath him. “Please baby, please.” Jisung whispered, biting his bottom lip in an effort to keep himself still. He wanted so much to just start thrusting into Minho. But he promised to be good and besides, his hips were still being pinned. “Don’t tease me.”

Grinning down at Jisung, Minho lifted himself before sinking back down - a shuddering breath escaping him. The drag of his cock against Minho’s walls felt incredible, his length twitching and pulsing almost uncontrollably. Jisung knew he was probably leaking copious amounts of precum, not that Minho needed the extra glide. Minho repeated his actions again, going incredibly slow and driving Jisung slowly crazy. His hands squeezed Minho’s ass again, following Minho’s movements. He thought about guiding the other to make him go faster, but Jisung was afraid it would have the opposite effect and Minho would stop completely and now that they started, Jisung wasn’t sure he would be able to survive if Minho suddenly stopped moving.

Leaning down, Minho brushed their lips together in a tease of a kiss, a smirk playing on his lips as he watched Jisung’s face. His eyes were so dark and intense and Jisung found himself suffocating from the stare. Minho was gorgeous, but up close like this he was breathtaking. “You’re doing so good.” Minho cooed, grinning as Jisung preened at the praise. Sitting back up, Minho braced himself on Jisung’s chest, hands careful to not press directly over his heart. “Remember, don’t move.” 

The reminder fell on deaf ears, Jisung barely able to process the command before Minho was impaling himself on his cock, over and over again at such a rapid pace it left Jisung dizzy. His lips parted, desperate cries leaving him - body pulled taught as he fought to keep himself still. It was a difficult challenge with the way Minho was riding him like his life depended on it; or more appropriately, his afterlife. “So good Ji.” Minho moaned out. “Filling me so good.” 

“Ah, fuck!” Jisung gasped out, his hands shifting from Minho’s ass to his hips, gripping it tightly - nails biting into skin. He tried, he really really tried but Jisung just couldn’t keep still any longer as more beautifully filthy words fell from Minho’s lips. Arms flexing, Jisung helped to lift Minho up before guiding him back down, dropping him harder than the other had before. He felt himself slip further inside, something he didn’t think was possible and Minho tightened around him - a startled cry echoing in the room. Jisung expected Minho to stop and scold him, but it never happened. In fact, it seemed like Minho gave up all control, letting Jisung guide him over his cock. There was a gentle pressure against his hips before it disappeared, warmth flooding the area once more. Jisung gave a small buck, hips free to move. 

Staring up at Minho, he grinned at him before reaching up and pulling him down into a deep kiss. Minho barely caught himself in time to keep their heads from colliding, arms shakily holding himself up. Jisung carded his fingers through Minho’s hair, gripping the brown locks at the base of his neck to keep him locked in the kiss. Lifting his legs, Jisung planted his feet on the mattress and gave a quick thrust up. He swallowed the choked moan from Minho, arms wrapping around him when Minho’s own arms gave up and he collapsed against Jisung, subsequently breaking the kiss.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Jisung groaned deeply, burying his face in Minho’s neck as the other chanted in his ear. He was getting lost in the pleasure of fucking Minho, driving his cock hard and fast in the other. He was so close to the edge already, he knew he wasn’t going to last but he didn’t want to cum before Minho. Reaching between their pressed bodies, Jisung managed to wrap his fingers against Minho’s cock. It was hot and heavy and pulsing and with one stroke Minho was crying out into his shoulder as he came. The rhythmic clenching of Minho’s hole sent Jisung into his own orgasm, burying his cock deep inside the other and filling him with his cum.

With the last twitch of his cock, Jisung went lax on the bed, panting heavily. His hand tiredly ran up and down Minho’s back, the other relaxing against him as well. Jisung was content to just lay there with the other, despite the mess coating their stomachs and his hand. Turning his head, he pressed a gentle kiss to Minho’s temple, the other grumbling and hiding his face further into his shoulder. “Fuck that was so good.”

Minho hummed in response, but still refused to lift his head. That was fine with Jisung. “We should shower.” Minho mumbled and Jisung shook his head.

“Don’t wanna move.”

“You’re going to hate yourself later.” 

Jisung shrugged and sighed. “That’s a future Jisung problem. Current Jisung wants to cuddle with his boyfriend.” Minho snorted and finally lifted his head just enough so Jisung could see him roll his eyes affectionately. 

“Fine, whatever.” Pleased to get his way, Jisung planted a wet kiss into Minho’s cheek, snuggling closer to him. “Silly brat.”

“But I’m your brat.” Jisung snickered. “Love you Min.” Minho only hummed in acknowledgement, curling up further on Jisung. “Say it back.” he whined.

“Love you too.” Minho paused before sighing. “I guess.” Jisung couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the comment. It was so Minho to have such a sarcastic response, but Jisung surely wouldn’t have him any other way. 

Tags: @jisungsjheekies @hanjisungismybaby @sauceracha @babyskz @slinekyu @schokoshaker @rejemi @bxddiebang @eastleighsblog @hydrawaterdragon @3rachasninja

( If you want to join the list, you can find the info here! Also I’m sorry for those listed in the tags but not getting tagged. For some reason tumblr can’t find your blog to tag. I’m hoping it figures it out soon like it did for others.)

[mickimagnum]

Devin's Dude Ranch: Episode Five

*the camera pans down to show Echo Valley Ranch, soon after the sun has risen. a rooster crows loudly.*

Devin (voice-over): "Today is my solo date with Handra and I'm really excited to see him. I like our connection. It's comfortable and easy. And we have a lot in common. So, yeah. I can't wait to see what happens between us when we have more time alone together."

Handra (voice-over): "I barely slept last night I was so excited about our date today. I can't believe I get to spend the day with Devin. I don't know what we're going to do, but as long as I'm with her, I know it's going to be fun."

*the next shot opens with Handra approaching Devin. she's waiting for him between two horses, one of which is her horse Gale. Devin is smiling at Handra*

Devin: "Good morning, Handra!"

*Handra beams at Devin*

Handra: "Good morning, beautiful."

*he comes to a stop in front of her and they hug*

Devin (teasingly): "Can you guess what we're doing today?"

*Handra glances at the horses, then looks back to Devin and jokingly scratches his head, as if confused*

Handra: "I was hoping you'd give me a hint."

*Devin lets out a loud laugh, which Handra follows with his own deeper chuckle*

Devin: "Well, I thought we'd go for a ride. And maybe stop for some breakfast along the way."

*their eyes meet and Handra gives her a lopsided grin*

Handra: "I would love that."

Devin: "Alright, great! Let me introduce you my friends here. This gorgeous creature to my left is my horse, Gale. And on my right is the newest addition to the ranch. His name is Bellamy, and he'll be your mount for the day."

*Handra's eyes light up as he looks over Bellamy. He makes he way over and gently runs his hand down the horse's neck*

Handra: "Hey there, big fella. It looks like you and I are going to be pals today."

*Bellamy relaxes his head in Handra's palm and closes his eyes, enjoying the affection*

*Devin smiles to herself, as if making note of how well the horse responds to her date*

*After a few moments of allowing them to bond, Devin speaks up:*

Devin: "You ready to saddle up?"

Handra: "You bet."

*the pair mount their horses and begin on their journey*

*the next shot fades in of Devin and Handra riding along a trail that winds up a desert mountain. Their conversation is indistinct, but it is peppered with laughter and sounds upbeat and playful*

Handra: "A fancy pergola in the middle of nowhere? I feel like that's definitely for us."

*Devin's laughter rings out against surrounding rock walls*

Devin: "You would be correct, sir. Onward!"

Handra: "Yes, ma'am!"

*the pair ride up to the Oasis' pergola and come to a stop.*

Devin: "Well, this is fancy."

*Handra nods in agreement as he leans forward in the saddle and scratches Bellamy's neck*

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

*Stan, Milo, and Houston are around the bar in the kitchen having breakfast*

Milo: "So, what do you think they're doing?"

*Houston puts his fork down, sighs, and presses his finger against his temple as if to stave off a headache*

Houston (dryly): "I'm trying not to think about it."

Milo: "Because it makes you jealous?"

*Houston sits silently for a moment, his jaw clenched, obviously considering whether or not if he was going to answer*

Houston: "Yeah, man."

*Houston picks up his fork and begins shoving the food around on his plate*

*Stan looks on silently as he sips his coffee*

At the Oasis...

*Devin and Handra and now seated at the table under the pergola, enjoying gourmet french toast*

Handra: "I don't know if I told you, but you look amazing today."

*Devin, who just shoved a fork-full of food into her mouth, now hides behind her hand as she chews and begins to blush*

Devin: "Thank you. You do too."

*Handra smiles and and glances shyly down at the table in reply*

Devin: "You handled yourself pretty well on Bellamy on the way up here."

Handra: "I spent some time as a horse trainer, mostly training ponies for kids back home. So, I've had my fair share of time in the saddle."

*Devin cocks an eyebrow*

Devin: "Really? That is so cool! A fellow horse trainer; yet another thing we have in common. You know, I teach riding lessons and most of students are kids. I think getting people involved with horses young is so important."

*Handra smiles at Devin, his eyes shining*

Handra: "That's amazing. And I agree. It creates a lifelong bond and respect that's really, well...magical."

*Devin nods enthusiastically*

Devin: "Yes! Exactly!"

Handra: "You train and sell competition show horses, right?"

*Devin nods*

Devin: "Yeah, that's right. But, I've got a new project I'm working on, too. See, Bellamy's not just any horse that happens to be at my ranch. I plan to breed him with Gale. That's my the next phase: breeding and training highly pedigreed Quarter Horses."

Handra: "Aaahhh. That makes perfect sense. That's exciting for you."

*Devin smiles and cuts another piece of french toast*

Devin: "I think so," *eats the piece she just cut and after she swallows she says:* "So, what about you? What are your plans for the future?"

Handra: "I bought my ranch, but I'm still in the process of really getting it up and running. I guess I'm just having trouble picking a direction of where I want to go with it. I feel like I could make it all work, you know? I'm stuck in a cycle of analysis paralysis, I guess, surrounded by a bunch of half-finished projects and none of them are making me money right now."

Devin: "Maybe you just need to figure out what you're passionate about? What would be worth dragging your *bleep* out of bed every morning at 5am. What you want to bleed for. I mean, you grew up on a farm. You know this life will literally make you bleed."

*they both share a short chuckle*

Handra: "Yeah, I know you're right. It's just harder than I thought it would be. This 'being my own man' and starting my own legacy thing."

Devin: "If it were easy, it wouldn't be worth doing. And honestly, you should be proud of all you've accomplished so far. I mean, we all have rough patches. But, it's how you get over them that really matters."

*Handra smiles up at her*

Handra: "You're really special. You know that?"

*she returns his smile*

Devin: "Thank you. I've just lived an interesting life that has taught me a lot of lessons. Most of them the hard way."

*Handra reaches across the table and takes her hand*

Handra: "I hope to hear all about it some day soon."

*their eyes meet and they smile at each other*

Devin (softly): "We can do that."

*After a brief time lapse, Devin looks to the away and sighs*

Devin: "It's time for us to head back."

*the two then make their way over the horses*

*before they mount, Handra stops Devin, takes her hands, and looks into her eyes*

Handra: "Thank you for an amazing day. And for listening to me and being so kind and supportive. I am so lucky to have been given the opportunity to be here with you. And before we go back, I need you know how much I like you, Devin. I really, really do."

*Devin beams at him*

Devin: "You're welcome. And thank you for an amazing day. I also really like you too, Handra. I'm glad you're here with me."

*Handra then holds Gale steady while Devin mounts*

*Once Devin is in the saddle, she leans down and kisses Handra. It's sudden and catches him by surprise, but he begins to kiss her back, holding onto Gale to steady himself*

*after the kiss, they two separate, look at each other, and burst out into smiles*

*Handra then makes his way over to Bellamy, with a little extra swagger in his step, and mounts*

Devin (to Gale): "Alright, girl. Let's go home."

*as the pair begin the ride home they join hands*

Handra: "Wait, does this mean we're literally riding off into the sunset together?"

Devin: "It's only noon, cowboy."

Handra, in diary room: "After today's date, I now know for a fact that Devin is woman I've been waiting for. She's so kind, and smart. Conversation and just being with her is easy. Everything about her feels right. And...she kissed me...best kiss of my life." *smiles at the floor in recollection*

Devin, in diary room: "I really enjoyed being with Handra today. And when he opened up and was vulnerable...that meant a lot. Every minute of being with him just feels natural. So, yeah, I kissed him," *laughs* "I think I surprised him a bit. But I wanted to shake things up. It was nice. I can't wait to see him again."

Handra submitted by @bloomingkyras Milo submitted by @belsasim Houston submitted by @invisiblequeen James "Stan" submitted by @natolesims

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